When the 117-year old UL (Underwriters Laboratories) has something to say about global food safety, it's probably a good idea to listen up.This time, UL is out with a survey of both consumer attitudes and the views of food manufacturers when it comes to food safety. It covers global perceptions from consumers and manufacturers in China, India, Germany and the...
Just days after the reelection of Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou, Washington is stepping up pressure on the administration to back down on its ban on ractopamine, a leanness- and growth-promoting drug used widely in pork and beef production in the United States. Taiwan's zero tolerance policy for the drug, which applies to both domestic production and imports, has become...
In the broad range of serious food issues - from dangerous pathogens to chemical residues to bioterrorism - food fraud, or economically-motivated adulteration, often takes a backseat. But should it? Research shows that while adulteration is often motivated by making an extra buck, there are also serious public health risks. "Food Fraud is a much broader set of crimes than...
An outbreak of Salmonella Newport in six countries that has sickened 54 and killed one has been tentatively linked to ready-to-eat sliced watermelon imported from Brazil. The outbreak began in December, 2011.According to the Daily Mail online, "Seventy per cent of the victims are female and include a six-month-old baby and pensioners. The one British fatality was suffering from a number...
British meat-packing plants deemed to be a "cause for concern" will be named publicly under a policy adopted this month by the Food Standards Agency (FSA), which is responsible for inspecting food processing in the UK.The decision to publish audit reports on the agency website is designed to eliminate the public mystery surrounding audits of British processing plants.But the move...
A group of French tourists returned home from Turkey last fall with diarrheal illnesses, and two of them developed a life-threatening kidney disease linked to the foodborne pathogen E. coli.Now French health officials have completed an investigation into this illness cluster and say the two women were infected with a strain of E. coli similar to the rarely seen bacteria...
A controversial animal drug, fed to a majority of pigs raised in the United States, has become the focus of a long-running trade dispute centered on meat exports. Ractopamine hydrochloride - used to keep swine lean and boost their growth in the last weeks before slaughter - is administered to an estimated 60 to 80 percent of pigs raised in...
While dogs may indeed be man's best friend, it turns out that they also have the ability to harbor one of man's most common enemies - norovirus.A study out of Finland has shown that pet dogs can carry human strains of norovirus and pass them on to people in the household.Researchers at the University of Helinski's Department of Food Hygiene...
What is the problem? The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has received reports that low levels of the chemical carbendazim have been found in some orange juice products that contain imported orange juice concentrates. Carbendazim is a fungus-killing chemical used in Brazil and some other countries to preserve agricultural crops. Brazil provides about 11 percent of the orange juice in the United...
As of Jan. 1, 2012, egg-laying hens across many European countries will live with fewer discomforts: The European Commission has officially implemented its ban on battery cages, the notoriously cramped cages used by many egg farmers and criticized by animal rights proponents and veterinarians who call them cruel and harmful to the birds' welfare.The law, finalized in 1999, comes after...
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