Opinion
I wrote a few imaginary New Year’s resolutions for some of our newsmakers that we haven’t gotten around to publishing until now. As the great Willie Nelson would say: “Funny how time slips away.” Truth be told, some of my colleagues thought I was being too harsh on the government this year. I don’t think… Continue Reading
Editor’s Note: We continue today with our look back at what happened in 2012 with the Top Ten Most Important Stories of 2012 as selected by the writers and editors of Food Safety News. Like yesterday’s Reader’s Choices, the stories that drove Food Safety News’ readership to new heights, the Top Ten is a way… Continue Reading
The apparent widespread fraud involving seafood labeling practices around ports of entry for imported fish poses a serious health risk for some, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration needs to step up enforcement of this food, says a longtime U.S. Senator. “It is unacceptable that proven fraud is occurring on such a widespread basis,”… Continue Reading
U.S. Food and Drug Commissioner Margaret Hamburg emphasized the stark budget challenge facing the agency, which is charged with overseeing 80 percent of the food supply, in a speech before a food policy audience in Washington, DC Tuesday. The FDA’s hundred-year-old “promise” to protect public health “speaks to government’s most basic function: to safeguard the… Continue Reading
Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Margaret Hamburg made her case for upping resources at FDA for fiscal year 2012 before a House appropriations committee on Friday, citing the agency’s “enormous” responsibility and reach. “We are responsible for overseeing products that people need, products they care about, products that are fundamental to their… Continue Reading
Sodium, trans fat, and food dyes were on the agendas for meetings held last month with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner, Dr. Margaret A. Hamburg and some of the nation’s top public health advocates, FDA’s public calendar shows. Food Safety News has chosen March 2010 for one of its periodic looks at who… Continue Reading
After much thought and consideration, here is the Food Safety News Naughty list for 2009: NAUGHTY: Stewart Parnell, President of Peanut Corporation of America, for asking for nearly $1 million from his bankrupt business for his own criminal defense fund after shipping peanuts his own tests showed were contaminated with Salmonella that sickened over 700… Continue Reading
When U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Margaret Hamburg Thursday told a U.S. Senate hearing about an ongoing criminal investigation into the Peanut Corporation of America over the nationwide Salmonella outbreak that began late last year, many suddenly sat up and listened. PCA allegedly shipped peanut butter products into interstate commerce, with knowledge that it… Continue Reading
On the same day the American Meat Institute (AMI) sent a letter demanding a meeting with Jerold R. Mande, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Deputy Under Secretary for Food Safety was meeting with Bruce Silverglade, Director of Legal Affairs for the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI). Whether Mande and Silverglade discussed electron… Continue Reading
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has promised the family of a Nevada woman that the U.S. Senate will take up a food safety bill this fall. Reid, who is a candidate for re-election to the Senate in 2010, made the pledge in a letter to the family of Linda Rivera, who continues to fight… Continue Reading
Key food safety officials at the U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services emphasized the need for stronger food safety laws last week before back to back food policy conferences in Washington, DC. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, Commissioner of the U.S…. Continue Reading