Opinion
Kosher food is big business. There are more than ten thousand kosher-producing companies in the United States alone, making more than 135,000 kosher products for over twelve million American consumers who purchase kosher food because it is kosher. Only 8 percent of kosher consumers, however, are religious Jews. Most kosher consumers choose kosher for reasons… Continue Reading
A new report published by the Louisiana Legislative Auditor questions whether inspection of restaurants and other retail food establishments are doing enough to prevent foodborne illness in the Bayou State. With its $9.5 billion tourist industry mostly built around food and music, the safety of Louisiana restaurant food is a subject of interest far beyond… Continue Reading
Opinion
The safety of our food supply is dependent on a core group of professionals at the federal, state and local levels of government, as well as professionals working in the food industry. Ironically, despite its importance, we have incomplete knowledge about the food safety workforce in the United States. In fact, although studies are supposedly… Continue Reading
Despite a tough new food safety law and more than a half million spent annually on inspections and lab work, Georgia is not achieving the food safety improvement at the state’s 740 food processing plants that its lawmakers seek. Perhaps, some say, Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black did not get the memo about how serious the… Continue Reading
More locally grown food and safer growing methods are the goals of a couple of bills close to passing the final hurdle in the Hawaii Legislature. Small farmers appear split on the bills. They like House Bill 2703, which sets out to double the locally grown food supply by 2020. They have doubts about HB… Continue Reading
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… Continue Reading
Officials at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration have made some serious missteps trying to keep potentially hazardous imported food off the market, according to a new government audit. The FDA did not always follow its own procedures to ensure foods were effectively recalled, a new report by the Health and Human Services Inspector General… Continue Reading
The U.S. government’s “right hand” was grading and okaying egg shipments while its “left hand” was testing for and finding Salmonella contamination. And the right hand had no idea what the left hand was doing. That pretty well sums up the findings of USDA’s Inspector General, who was brought in to scrutinize the Nov…. Continue Reading
Experts at the University of Florida are on a mission to help small farmers develop and implement on-farm food safety plans. The University’s Small Farms Academy, part of the North Florida Research and Education Center, is hosting two workshops next week to work with farmers on food safety and record keeping practices meant to enhance… Continue Reading
The landscape for food safety is going through some of the most significant changes ever in the context of legislative action, regulatory enforcement, consumer wariness, and industry accountability. With these changes comes greater expectations and greater risks of damaged brands and significant legal consequences when something goes wrong that results in illness or death. David… Continue Reading
The development of the Audits Benchmarking Matrix, which enables side-by-side comparisons of the third-party audit organizations and standards most commonly used by the U.S. produce industry, was completed last week by a working group of the United Fresh Produce Association’s Food Safety & Technology Council. The Audits Benchmarking Matrix allows users to select and compare… Continue Reading