Quick bites from around the food safety arena
- EU regulations will change this summer in an effort to reduce the danger of Listeria contamination in ready-to-eat foods, prompting updated guidance from the Chilled Food Association. “It places prevention at the center of operations with strong HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point), backed by good hygiene and robust prerequisite programs and gives clear direction on how to set shelf-life, how to respond to detections of Listeria monocytogenes and how to use environmental monitoring program data to support food safety,” Karin Goodburn, chair of the Industry Listeria Group at the Chilled Food Association said.
- In Germany, officials reported an increase in the number of outbreaks of foodborne illness and the number of people who got sick from those outbreaks in 2024. The Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL) and the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) received reports of 271 foodborne outbreaks. They resulted in at least 2,400 illnesses, 451 hospitalizations, and eight deaths.
- The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) has warned of an outbreak of amatoxin poisoning linked to consumption of death cap mushrooms. As of early December, 21 cases have been identified and three people have died, with the greatest number in the Monterey and San Francisco Bay areas. CDPH strongly advises the public to avoid foraging wild mushrooms and to only consume mushrooms purchased from reputable sources.
Today’s Topic: Infant Formula
Out of thousands of food products, infant formula ends up at the center of this problem or that, often scaring the hell out of parents. Contaminants in formula pose an incredible risk to infants because of their small body size, intense appetites, immature body systems that can't metabolize toxic chemicals, and the fact that a single type of formula can be 100 percent of their diet.
Two decades ago, reports from China said melamine was used in the Sanlu infant formula brand. When ingested at toxic levels, melamine can adversely affect kidney health and harm pets and babies. At high enough doses, it can kill. By the time all was said and done, China’s official count was 300,000 infants sickened, 54,000 hospitalized, and six deaths.