In an ideal world, perhaps all of our food would be screened for pathogens before we consume it. But in reality, such testing is expensive and time-consuming for companies. Most producers do not have the capacity to test for pathogens themselves and must send samples out to a lab. Results can take 2 or more days to process. For companies...
Richard J. Ronk, who served as director of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition under the Clinton administration, died December 18 at his home in Fairfax County, Virgina, the Washington Post reported Saturday.Ronk worked for the FDA for nearly four decades, first at a laboratory in Kansas City, MO and then at agency...
With the U.S. Food and Drug Administration expected to issue proposed rules for food facilities in early 2012, the agency is working with the Illinois Institute of Technology's Institute for Food Safety and Health (IIT IFSH) to launch the Food Safety Preventive Controls Alliance (FSPCA).The aim of the FSPCA is to develop training courses and materials on preventing contamination for...
Technology giant IBM and Shandong Commercial Group Co., a major retailer in China, have teamed up to build a pork traceability system in China's Shandong Province, IBM announced last week.The new system, created at the request of Shandong Provincial Municipality, is aimed at improving food safety and public confidence in pork after a series of high profile scandals involving illegal...
Three U.S. Department of Agriculture scientists were recently named to the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Science Hall of Fame, including zoologist Ronald Fayer who has done a broad range of work in food and water safety.Fayer works in the ARS Environmental Microbial and Food Safety Laboratory in Beltsville, MD, and is being recognized for scientific research leadership on parasites that...
Agriculture Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan announced Wednesday that the U.S. Department of Agriculture has awarded 17 grants in 13 states to improve the safety of the food supply through research, education and extension. USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) awarded the grants, totaling $10.4 million, to universities to help address a broad spectrum of food safety issues. Merrigan...
Dr. Barbara Kowalcyk, well known in the food safety community for her advocacy, is joining the North Carolina State faculty as an assistant research professor in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Kowalcyk currently serves as CEO of the Center for Foodborne Illness Research and Prevention, a non-profit organization dedicated to preventing foodborne illness through research, education, advocacy and...
This weekend marked the launch of the Global Food Safety Fund, a partnership of public and private organizations intended to boost food safety systems around the world. Three organizations - the Waters Corporation, Mars Incorporated and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) together pledged 1 million dollars as seed money for the Fund, which will provide food safety...
I wish I could say that I was surprised that the so-called first nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) was a bust. During my past life doing public affairs work, one of my successes was helping a great family-owned station in the Pacific Northwest increase its signal to the 50,000-watt maximum for AM radio, up from a mere...
They've turned the Rocky Mountain snow machine back on. Someone told me the Old Farmers Almanac says the date of the first snowfall will determine how many times it will snow this season.Denver's first snowfall was Oct. 25, which according to Old Farmers means we will see 25 snowstorms this season. We've already seen two, and we can only hope...
Copyright © Marler Clark
