Gamblers in Las Vegas taking advantage of all those free drink offers might soon be ordering up a nice cold glass of raw milk. With only two dissenting votes Thursday afternoon, the Nevada Senate’s Committee on Health and Human Services gave a “do pass” recommendation to Assembly Bill (AB) 209, making raw milk sales legal… Continue Reading
The House Agriculture Committee voted to repeal a controversial catfish inspection program at the U.S. Department of Agriculture late Wednesday night – a sign the program, which was mandated by the 2008 farm bill to help protect U.S. catfish farmers from cheap imports, may be headed for the chopping block. In the last attempt at… Continue Reading
The Senate Agriculture Committee on Tuesday marked up and approved a new farm bill 15-5. While this mega-legislation that sets farm policy for five years is mostly focused on nutrition programs like SNAP and commodity programs like crop insurance and conservation, there are a couple notable food safety mentions in the bill: Under a section… Continue Reading
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration have released a detailed draft risk assessment aimed at reducing Listeria monocytogenes in deli products reaching consumers’ plates. The 179-page document, posted online Friday evening, outlines several ways retail delis can reduce the risk of Listeria contamination. Listeria… Continue Reading
Levels of inorganic arsenic found in samples of chicken may be responsible for a slight increase in cancer risk to consumers over their lifetimes, according to a study by researchers at John Hopkins University published this week. That research comes on the heels of a lawsuit filed against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration two… Continue Reading
Take a moment to consider some of the foods found in a supermarket: eggs, tomatoes, coffee — maybe even chocolate chip peppermint brownie ice cream. Now, try to imagine all the steps and processes that food went through to get all the way to those shelves. While the ice cream likely went through more processes… Continue Reading
Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), and Susan Collins (R-ME) on Wednesday introduced a bill that would require the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to collect more data on exactly how antimicrobial drugs are used in food animal production. The Antimicrobial Data Collection Act calls for increased data collection by the Food and Drug… Continue Reading
A rule change published earlier this year by the Illinois Department of Public Health is drawing fire this spring from raw milk advocates who object to three provisions in the proposal. These are: On-farm sales would continue to be permitted, but limited to 100 gallons per month. Raw milk dairies would be required to purchase… Continue Reading
The public should not hesitate to be more involved in the food safety policymaking process, Dr. Elisabeth Hagen and Michael Taylor, the nation’s two leading food safety officials, told an audience at the Food Safety Summit in Baltimore late last week. Dr. Hagen is Under Secretary for Food Safety at the U.S. Department of Agriculture… Continue Reading
You, the consumer, are at the end of a long line of stops food makes before reaching your plate. Being able to trace this food back to its origins can be crucial to government and industry during a food-related recall or outbreak. But you may also want to know whether what you are about to… Continue Reading
Opinion
In writing about food safety for the past four years, I’ve come to appreciate those times when government, industry and consumers are all on the same page. It’s at those moments that a bipartisan Congress adopts reforms like the Food Safety Modernization Act. Then there are times when government, industry and consumers are not on… Continue Reading