A federal judge in California wants the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to settle on new achievable deadlines for implementing regulations set forth in the Food Safety Modernization Act. U.S. District Judge Phyllis Hamilton used her federal bench in Oakland to chide FDA for “admittedly” failing to comply with the mandatory rule-making schedule contained in the FSMA. In other words, the judge found FDA is violating the very law it is supposed to be implementing to prevent outbreaks of foodborne disease. Hamilton said the aggressive timelines in the law have turned out to be “unachievable.” She added, “endless delay does not serve the purpose of the FSMA.” The judge’s decision is at least an academic victory for the Center for Food Safety, which sued FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg to help dislodge the FSMA rules from the elite regulatory unit in the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB). OMB kept the rules under wraps for the entire 2012 election year, and only after they finally became public earlier this year did it become known that the White House had scaled them back considerably. FDA has not said whether it will appeal the trial court’s call for a new set of deadlines.
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.
An increase in Campylobacter and Salmonella infections in England has been attributed to multiple factors.
It is estimated that there are 300,000 cases of foodborne Campylobacter a year with
Scottish food sampling has revealed overall good compliance but a high failure rate for milk in dairy-alternative lattes.
Food Standards Scotland (FSS) funds annual food sampling, which is done by
A dozen new issues have been discussed at the latest World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting on food safety.
Attendees at the March meeting of the WTO Committee on Sanitary and
The Dutch food agency has been advised to do a survey on biocide residues in food, focusing on frequently consumed processed items.
The Office of Risk Assessment and Research (BuRO)
According to press reports, the Food and Drug Administration has issued its most serious recall for peeled garlic sold in New York, Vermont and Pennsylvania over a potential botulism risk.
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
A food safety scientist has been named the 2026 World Food Prize Laureate for his efforts to build international consensus on food standards and facilitate the safe flow of trade.
Farmers, Québon and Natrel brand milk products are being recalled in Canada because of the possible presence of pieces of glass.
The milk was distributed nationwide, according to the Canadian
