Without necessarily knowing the term “traceability,” consumers have been calling for it in their food system for a long time. The evidence of that comes from the food industry itself, with its increased emphasis on where food came from. Many companies now highlight certain locations or farmers in brand names, commercials, or through packaging and… 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
Opinion
The guest op-ed piece by former UDSA Under Secretary for Food Safety Richard Raymond entitled, “Can We Talk Turkey?” had some factual errors that need to be addressed, along with some pieces of information that readers need to have in order to put some of the issues he raised into proper perspective. Dr. Raymond challenged… Continue Reading
Just two months after the White House warned that across-the-board budget cuts, known as the sequester, could have dire consequences for the country, in part because they could weaken food safety protections, it seems food safety has escaped the worst of the impact. According to the Obama administration, the sequester could have resulted in 11… 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
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
Opinion
On April 24, 2013, Mother Jones ran a story entitled “USDA Ruffles Feathers With New Poultry Inspection Policy,” by Tom Philpott. Like so many posts that I read about on the new proposed poultry inspection system, it is loaded with innuendos, inflammatory comments and is often just plain wrong. But to lay the ground work… Continue Reading
Opinion
My passion for public health stems from my career as an infectious disease doctor, watching families cope with the heartbreak caused by preventable diseases, including foodborne illness. I know what it feels like to explain to a husband in shock that the reason his wife is on life support is because of something she ate… Continue Reading
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and USDA’s Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) announced on Tuesday they will hold a public meeting to discuss a recently completed draft risk assessment on Listeria monocytogenes in foods sold at retail delicatessens. The meeting will be held at USDA’s Jefferson Auditorium at 1400 Independence Avenue, Southwest, Washington,… Continue Reading
By March of last year, lean finely textured beef (LFTB) had reached celebrity status under the unfavorable moniker “pink slime.” The product—which is made by centrifuging slightly heated fatty beef trimmings to separate out lean meat bits and then treating that meat with ammonia gas to reduce foodborne pathogens —was the subject of thousands of… Continue Reading
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s food safety unit is going to do more “species testing” on imported beef products from Iceland, Ireland, Poland, Northern Ireland and the United Kingdom, but it will be doing more screenings than detailed DNA analyses, it says. In addition, USDA will be conducting species testing on more imported ground beef… Continue Reading