Mindy Brashears was Under Secretary for Food Safety in late 2020 when USDA’s Office of Food Safety (OFS) and the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) released a plan to decrease Salmonella with an approach that would be science-based, data-driven, and promote innovation to reduce the pathogen in meat, poultry
Continue Reading Brashears: Beating salmonella in poultry needs to focus on serotypes causing human illness with improved data
Mindy Brashears, the fifth in history confirmed USDA Under Secretary for Food Safety, said goodbye to her consumer, government and industry stakeholders January 14.
Her political appointment as the federal government’s top food safety official expired a week later on Inauguration Day, ending her two-year tenure, including 303 days as
Continue Reading How the food safety transition went, according to the public calendars
Editor’s Note: In this year-end summary, USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) reports on its key achievements for fiscal year (FY) 2020 and highlights progress on its goal of modernizing the agency and fulfilling its mission to prevent foodborne illness and protect public health.
“This has been a challenging
Continue Reading Here’s what the Food Safety and Inspection Service did in fiscal year 2020
After eight months on the job as boss over USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service headquarters (FSIS), Administrator Paul Kiecker likely is feeling like P.T. Barnum.
Kiecker’s meetings with people outside of the federal government occur with enough frequency and in such numbers that his schedule must feel like a
Continue Reading New FSIS boss moves from one telephonic ring to another
If the United States had a single independent food safety authority like most counties, a change of administrators would not be a significant event. But with food safety spread across as many as 20 departments and agencies, elections bring topsy-turvy change.
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Continue Reading Election brings change of some food safety officials from across government
During the modernization era for meat and poultry, how fast carcasses are moved across the slaughter floor is an issue that’s created controversies involving both food safety and worker safety.
Line speed, as it is called, is a current issue before multiple federal Courts and Congress.
Dr. Mindy Brashears, Under
Continue Reading Faster line speeds may not be the food safety issue some thought
The industry of animal cell-based/cultured technology has not yet brought any products to market, but the entry is fast approaching and applicable federal labels are soon going to be required.
And, the North American Meat Institute (NAMI) and the Alliance for Meat, Poultry and Seafood Innovation (AMPS Innovation) have linked
Continue Reading Conventional and cultured industries express goals for federal labels
The Roadmap to Reducing Salmonella: Driving Change through Science-Based Policy outlines programs and policies that are
Continue Reading USDA food safety agencies announces plan to reduce Salmonella
Unlike the first 90 days or so of the coronavirus pandemic, not every outsider who made contact with USDA’s top Food Safety and Inspection Service executives in June wanted to talk about COVID-19. Nor was normalcy making a comeback during the summer months as the only contact outsiders had with
Continue Reading Food safety brass over summer were taking COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 calls
When there are Star Trek replicators, what are they going to call the meat, poultry, or seafood products that come out of them? Steaks and chops and chicken breasts from the replicators will be grown from animal cells, not from raising animals on the hoof on the farm or ranch.
Continue Reading FDA/USDA say they are making progress on labeling cell-made food
