The U.S. Department of Agriculture's new, groundbreaking non-O157 E. coli policy, which classifies six new strains of as adulterants and requires testing, will become effective 90 days later than originally planned, the Food Safety and Inspection Service announced Wednesday. The delay, which did not surprise industry insiders, will push back the routine sampling of the six additional STEC serogroups O26,...
Consumer groups formally petitioned the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Tuesday to switch gears and evaluate genetically engineered (GE) salmon as a food additive, not a veterinary drug, as the agency has been for several years.Though the political fight over GE salmon has primarily focused on the potential environmental impact of the technology--a fight fueled by environmental groups and lawmakers...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration reported finding low levels of fungicide carbendazim in orange juice headed for U.S. supermarkets, but assured the public the juice remains safe to drink.Of the 14 samples, which were taken from large holding tanks of juice concentrate at large domestic orange juice processors, nine tested positive for carbendazim, five had no measurable level of...
The Environmental Protection Agency missed a deadline this week to release part of an analysis on the public health impact of dioxins, a lapse that angered public health and environmental advocates.After many years of delays, the agency said in August it would complete the first part of the dioxin reassessment, which would have set a toxicological threshold for the first...
Despite a nearly 40-year ban on the sale of tiny turtles in the U.S., the small reptiles are still being sold -- and still making people sick, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Thursday.Writing in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, the CDC said it is working with the Pennsylvania State Health Department to investigate an 18-state outbreak...
Saying a New York cheese maker failed to correct repeated violations, despite multiple federal and state warnings, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has gone to court to close down the plant until it complies with food safety regulations.Mexicali Cheese of Woodhaven, NY produced cheese under persistent unsanitary conditions that contributed to Listeria monocytogenes contamination of the facility and the...
The field is narrowing in the search for the mysterious "Restaurant Chain A," implicated by public health officials as the source of a Salmonella outbreak that sickened 68 people in 10 states in October and November last year. Since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported the outbreak two weeks ago, no federal or state agency yet has...
Philip Derfler, deputy administrator at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service, touted the new proposed rule on poultry inspection last week at a Food and Drug Law Institute's conference.Under current policy, FSIS is responsible for examining all poultry carcasses for blemishes or visible defects before they are further processed. Under the proposed rule, the agency would...
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...
We can go back to talking amongst ourselves about the theory of a single food safety agency in the United States. But in reality, the idea is now dead.Let's review.On Jan. 13, President Obama announced he was asking Congress "to reinstate the authority that past presidents had, over decades, to reorganize the government."The President said his immediate goal was to...
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