Food Safety NewsHelena Bottemiller is a Washington, DC-based reporter covering food policy and politics for Food Safety News. Helena first delved into the world of food safety while writing her thesis on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration at Claremont McKenna College in Los Angeles. At Food Safety News, she has covered Congress, the White House, the Supreme Court and several high-profile food safety stories, including the half-billion Salmonella egg recall and the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Helena has appeared on BBC World and been featured in USA Today and her work is widely cited by mainstream and niche media. She tweets about food and agriculture policy at @hbottemiller.
Monsanto has dropped its push for approval from European regulators on two types of "second generation" genetically modified seeds.The company informed the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) that it was withdrawing its approval request for GM maize LY038 and the stacked variety LYo38 x MON810, both of which were designed for the express purpose of accelerating the growth rate of...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is extending the comment period for the agency's notice requesting comments, scientific data, and information on acrylamide in food to January 25, 2010. In August, the Federal Register published a notice with a 90-day comment period to gain more data and input on acrylamide in food, an issue that is receiving more attention from...
Chinese officials announced that two milk producers were executed yesterday for their role in last year's nationwide melamine milk contamination scandal, which killed six infants and sickened over 300,000 in China.Zhang Yujun was executed for the crime of endangering public safety by dangerous means, and Geng Jinping was put to death for producing and selling toxic food, according to China's...
With Thanksgiving fast-approaching, public health groups are ramping up public outreach focused on how holiday cooks can safely select, handle, and prepare turkey, ham, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and pies for their family and friends.Yesterday, Consumer Reports hosted a live chat on their Consumer Reports Safety Blog with the team's resident food safety expert to discuss safe holiday food preparation. The discussion focused...
PART II: On the pending food safety legislation, the impact on small farmers, and the agency's capacity to inspect the food supply: A conversation with Dr. David Acheson, former Associate Commissioner of Foods at the FDA.Dr. David Acheson knows the federal food safety system inside and out. An expert in food safety and infectious diseases who has become well-versed in...
Public health officials in Abu Dhabi, the capital city of the United Arab Emirates, are cracking down on restaurant owners for food safety violations and may dole out more jail time if a proposed law is passed.The Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority (ADFCA) has proposed a law that would allow it to impose tougher sanctions against food sellers and restaurant...
PART I: On agency turf battles, the shift between the Bush and Obama administrations, and the politics of regulating the food supply: A conversation with Dr. David Acheson, former Associate Commissioner of Foods at the FDA.Dr. David Acheson knows the federal food safety system inside and out. An expert in food safety and infectious diseases who has become well-versed in...
The Philippines Department of Agriculture (DA) lifted an eight-year-old ban on meat and bone meal imports from the United States after the World Animal Health Organization officially recognized the U.S. as "Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) controlled risk."BSE, also known as mad cow disease, is a fatal, neurodegenerative disease that can afflict cattle. The disease is transmitted when cattle ingest the...
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO's) world summit on food security in Rome discussed food safety issues in the midst of its focus on increasing food production to meet growing populations last week.Jacques Diouf, director-general of the FAO, spoke about the state of the international food system before an audience of food and agriculture experts.As Diouf pointed out...
The Government Accountability Project (GAP) held a conference yesterday focused on the important role whistleblowers play in protecting the food supply, exploring ways to empower more food workers to speak out against inhumane and unsafe practices in the food system."Where are the whistleblowers when we need them?" asked Tom Devine, to his audience of food policy wonks and law students...
Genetically engineered (GE) crops have experienced a staggering increase in their use of weed-killing pesticides, leading to increased herbicide-resistant weeds, environmental degradation, and chemical residues on foods according to a report by the Union for Concerned Scientists (UCS), The Organic Center (TOC), and the Center for Food Safety (CFS).The report, based off data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA),...
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), on behalf of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), filed a complaint for permanent injunction against a veal operation in Maryland for allegedly selling veal calves with illegal drug residues in edible tissues.The complaint, filed last Friday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, also alleges that the veal operator,...
The FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, a bill that would greatly increase the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's authority and mandate over the food system, was unanimously voted out of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee yesterday, nine months after Dick Durbin (D-IL) introduced the measure. Groups in support of the legislation hailed the committee's action and continued...
Monday the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee released Chairman Tom Harkin's (D-IA) draft markup of the pending S. 510, the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, which contained new provisions to protect organic and sustainable farmers.Senators Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Al Franken (D-MN), Bernie Sanders (D-VT), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), and Michael Bennet (D-CO) sent a letter to Chairman Harkin...
This week the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) and the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF), who together represent about 85 percent of the dairy industry, called on the Senate to include raw milk regulation in the pending food safety reform bill. IDFA and NMPF want S. 510, the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, which the Senate is currently considering, to explicitly...
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