By April Haynes, OFO
In Alethea “Missy” Payton’s nearly 31-year career, she has advanced through FSIS in several in-plant positions: food inspector, consumer safety inspector (CSI) and supervisory CSI. She also was a resource management specialist (RMS) from 2017 to 2019 and again on a detail starting in 2023.
Continue Reading Faces of Food Safety: Meet Alethea ‘Missy’ Payton of the FSIS
By Dr. April Haynes, OFO, on detail to OPACE
Tamar Khafi, Ph.D., thrives on “digging deep” to identify the source of an issue and innovate solutions. As director of the Data Innovation and Governance Staff in the Office of Planning, Analysis and Risk Management (OPARM), Dr. Khafi leads and coordinates
Continue Reading Faces of Food Safety: Meet Tamar Khafi
The European Commission has opened a comment period as part of plans to change the current set-up and establish EU reference laboratories (EURLs) in public health.
The call for applications covers three EURLs. The first is an EURL for food and waterborne bacteria; the second is for food, water, and
Continue Reading EU Commission opens call in foodborne labs reorganization
The International Association for Food Protection (IAFP) is gearing up for its 2024 Annual Meeting, set to take place July 14-17 in Long Beach, CA. Early registration is now open for a series of Pre-Meeting Workshops aimed at providing attendees with insights and practical knowledge.
IAFP 2024
The IAFP Annual
Approaches to food safety inspections are similar between five countries but personal preferences could be responsible for some of the differences, according to a study.
Research identified how environmental health practitioners (EHPs) from Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Ireland perform food safety inspections. Data was
Continue Reading Food safety inspections found to be similar across countries
Wisconsin’s health department has launched a system to help people report foodborne illnesses to more quickly identify outbreaks.
In the form of an online survey, the system allows people who suspect their illness might be from eating or drinking something contaminated to report symptoms, recent food items eaten, and places
Continue Reading Wisconsin seeks public’s help in identifying foodborne illness outbreaks
Researchers in Denmark have shared lessons learned as part of work on national burden of disease estimates.
The Danish burden of foodborne disease study ranks pathogens and chemicals. Results from 2019 showed the top hazards were Campylobacter, lead, peanut allergy, methylmercury, and Salmonella.
National studies are helpful for risk ranking and
Continue Reading Study reflects on Danish burden of foodborne disease work
— OPINION —
By Steven Grossman, Executive Director of the Alliance for a Stronger FDA.
What started as a crisis over the safety and supply of infant formula became a wide-ranging review of FDA’s food programs by the Reagan-Udall Foundation. In turn, those led to the creation of a new
Continue Reading Major FDA reorganization will heavily impact human foods program
The World Health Organization (WHO) has called for experts to contribute to work on the economic impact of foodborne diseases.
WHO is in the process of updating global estimates on the public health burden of foodborne infections. This will look at patients, deaths, and disability-adjusted life year (DALY) loss from
Continue Reading WHO and World Bank plan update to foodborne illness cost estimates
Encouraging news about progress in the ongoing battle against antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is highlighted in a landmark report recently released by the World Organisation for Animal Health.
This comes at an especially good time with Antimicrobial Resistance Awareness Week running from Nov. 18-24. It has been held every November since
Continue Reading Preventing foodborne illnesses can help keep super bugs at bay