California’s Central Valley Meat Co. has been indefinitely closed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for failing to meet cleanliness standards. “FSIS withdrew our inspectors and suspended operations due to insanitary conditions at the establishment,” the agency said in an emailed statement to Food Safety News. “The plant’s suspension will be lifted once we receive adequate assurances of corrective action.” The USDA previously shut down Central Valley in 2012 for inhumane handling of animals after an undercover video showed alleged violations of humane slaughter laws taking place there. Central Valley employees were caught on camera torturing cattle with prods and subjecting them to other inhumane treatment. No recall has been initiated in the latest closure, suggesting that federal authorities are not treating this as a food safety issue. Central Valley, located 30 miles from Fresno, supplies beef to the National School Lunch Program. In 2012, Food Safety News reported that Central Valley beef had accounted for roughly 16 percent of beef purchases made by USDA during the 2010-2011 school year.
The News Desk team at Food Safety News covers breaking developments, regulatory updates, recalls, and key topics shaping food safety today. These articles are produced collaboratively by our editorial staff.
Canada has announced support for a program designed to strengthen food safety and plant and animal health.
Funding of CAD $500,000 (U.S. $366,000) to the Standards and
The International Finance Corporation (IFC) has released two reports on food safety and called for a broader and more long-term view of investments.
The first report evaluates the return on
An assessment of black pepper controls in Brazil has revealed the Salmonella contamination rate has improved but raised questions about a lack of checks at primary production level.
The September
More than two-thirds of stores selling fish do not consistently follow food safety regulations, according to inspection findings from the Dutch food agency.
Most violations concerned the failure to list
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
Canada has announced support for a program designed to strengthen food safety and plant and animal health.
Funding of CAD $500,000 (U.S. $366,000) to the Standards and
The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is issuing a public health alert for meat and poultry products containing FDA-regulated dairy ingredients that may be contaminated with Salmonella.
An outbreak of hepatitis A has spurred the FDA to issue a public alert about fresh-frozen blood clams imported from Ecuador and sold under the La Serranita brand.
The outbreak
