Quick bites from around the food safety arena
- Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. released an update to the federal government’s dietary guidelines on Wednesday. The new guidelines encourage more consumption of red meat, cheese and full-fat dairy products. According to The New York Times, the guidelines elevate priorities from Kennedy’s Make America Healthy Again movement.
- Nestlé is recalling infant formula in more than 50 countries worldwide because of the possible presence of the toxin cereulide, which is produced by some strains of Bacillus cereus. The toxin was first discovered at a manufacturing plant in the Netherlands. No illnesses have yet been reported from the recalled formula
- The U.S. Department of Agriculture figured the cost of foodborne illnesses in the United States at almost $75 billion in 2023. Salmonella and Campylobacter are responsible for the highest number of food-related cases and approximately $28.4 billion of the overall cost impact.
- A U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released this week calls for more accountability in America’s food safety systems. The GAO report recommends seven actions the Food and Drug Administration can take to finish implementing the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2011.
The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA) was enacted in 1938, giving the Food and Drug Administration the power to demand proof of safety before food reached consumers. Twenty years later, the Food Additives Amendment of 1958 listed 700 food substances exempted from the requirement that manufacturers test food additives before foods containing them are sent to the market. With that, the Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS) system — a loophole some say — was born.