The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday issued draft guidance for industry on how to reduce levels of acrylamide in certain foods to help mitigate potential human health risks. Acrylamide forms from a chemical reaction that occurs when food is cooked at high temperatures – fried, roasted or baked – and mainly occurs in potato and cereal products. It is also found in cigarette smoke and is produced industrially for use in plastics, grouts, water treatment products and cosmetics. In the guidelines, FDA offers approaches growers, manufacturers and food-service operators can use to help reduce acrylamide levels. Suggestions include selecting certain varieties of potato or wheat, storing ingredients in certain ways, reducing frying temperatures, using alternative coloration or leavening, and adding certain ingredients in processing. “Acrylamide in food is a concern because it can cause cancer in laboratory animals at high doses, and is ‘reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen,'” the draft guidance document states. But, as Food Safety News has previously reported, not everyone agrees that the chemical is a safety threat. Even a joint committee of the World Health Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations concluded that “epidemiological studies do not provide any consistent evidence that occupational exposure or dietary exposure to acrylamide is associated with cancer in humans.”
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The European Commission has assessed histamine controls in fishery products with training highlighted as one of the major problems.
Histamine toxicity, also known as scombroid poisoning, is associated with consumption
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has published six pieces of research relating to efforts to reduce Campylobacter in chicken meat.
The papers cover interventions applied at slaughterhouses, in the supply
The Belgian food agency’s annual report was released recently and highlighted a fatal E. coli outbreak and revealed food fraud cases.
The Federal Agency for the Safety of the
The Food and Drug Administration uses import alerts to enforce U.S. food safety regulations for food from foreign countries. The agency updates and modifies the alerts as needed.
Recent
Fayus Inc., doing business as Yusol International Foods of Sacramento, CA, is recalling OLA-OLA POUNDED YAM because the product may contain undeclared milk in the form of sodium caseinate,
Eunha Fisheries Co. Ltd. of Busan, Republic of Korea, is recalling certain Sliced Korean Halibut and Flounder Sashimi products because the accompanying soy sauce and vinegar red pepper paste packets
Gellert Global Group of Elizabeth, NJ, is recalling 8.1 oz packages of ALDI Brand Fusia Asian Inspirations Kimchi & Tofu Kimbap because they may contain undeclared tuna.
People who
