A significant portion of the food that Americans consume comes from overseas, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) doesn’t have the ability to inspect all imports, so it’s not a bad idea to intervene with preventive measures before the food reaches our ports. “It’s much better and more efficient to control the problem…
Healthy People 2020 Reviews Progress on Food Safety Objectives
The Healthy People 2020 initiative recently held a public webinar to update stakeholders on progress toward food safety objectives. Addressing the goals to reduce infections from pathogens commonly transmitted through food, Roberta Wagner, deputy director for regulatory affairs at the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN), cited new tools provided under the…
FDA's CFSAN Announces Program Priorities for Next Two Years
On Thursday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN or Center) announced its Plan for Program Priorities, 2013-14. The two-year plan, which is intended to help CFSAN focus its highest priorities on protecting and promoting public health, recognizes developments in the food (including dietary supplement) and…
FDA Enlists NC State to Chart Transmission Routes for Salmonella
A plan to chart the routes of transmission for Salmonella species is the reason for a new cooperative agreement between the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and North Carolina State University (NC State). 
Beginning in September, FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN) will begin working with NC State’s Prestage Department of…
Plan Offers Insights Into What Worries FDA's Science Unit
What worries the deep thinkers at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN), the agency’s science-based regulatory unit, is pretty well spelled out in the Center’s new Science and Research (CSR) Strategic Plan. 
Among these concerns are keeping imported foods safe as that sector doubled during the last…
FDA Reorganizes Veterinary Medicine to Combine with Office of Foods
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced Monday in the Federal Register that the agency has reorganized the Foods and Veterinary Medicine (FVM) program. Under the reorganization, which was completed in October, the Office of Foods is now the Office of Foods and Veterinary Medicine, led by Michael Taylor, the Deputy Commissioner for Foods and…
FDA Improves Adulterated Foods Tracking System
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration took steps this month to improve its ability to track patterns in food adulteration with its Reportable Foods Registry. The Reportable Foods Registry, or RFR, is an online portal where companies are required to report foods they have manufactured that may be dangerous to human or animal health. Public…
CFSAN Leader Steps Down
U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Margaret Hamburg and Deputy Commissioner for Foods Michael Taylor issued a joint letter yesterday announcing that Stephen Sundlof was stepping down from his position of director of the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN). He has accepted a two-year assignment with the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of …
Produce Guidance Comment Period Extended
On Wednesday, the FDA issued an official notice extending to January 4, 2010, the comment period on its draft guidances to minimize food safety hazards of leafy greens, tomatoes, and melons of August 3, 2009.
The draft guidances, published on July 31, 2009, are designed to help growers, producers, and others across the entire supply …
Food Recall Recap
Food Safety News has been following a steady stream of recall press releases from both the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN), which regulates 80 percent of the food supply, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Services (FSIS), which regulates meat, poultry, …