Few threats addressed by the United Nations are as undiscriminating as foodborne pathogens, which don’t honor international borders or differentiate between first- and third-world status. Similarly few threats addressed by the international body are as easy to mitigate as food safety, at least in theory. 
Ajay Markanday is director of the…
The Government’s Role in Food Safety
(U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, a Montana Democrat, was co-author of the Tester-Hagan Amendment to the Food Safety Modernization Act, which exempted certain small, local producers from regulation. He sits on the Senate Appropriations Committee and also on its Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies.) As an organic farmer from…
Tracking Seafood From Bait to Plate
(This article by Michael Conathan, Director of Ocean Policy at the Center for American Progress, was first posted here on March 23, 2015, and is reposted with permission.) “Is this local?” This question, posed by consumers in restaurants and food markets across the country, has become a ubiquitous catchphrase. It even served as the subject…
The Importance of Food Traceability
(This article was originally published in Food Safety Magazine on March 17, 2015, and is reposted here with permission.) So what is driving all the discussion about food traceability? And why is traceability suddenly so important? Traceability is most relevant when it comes to public health. Whether we are talking about food safety or food…
DNA Spray-On Technology Could Revolutionize Food Traceability
It sounds like something straight out of agricultural science fiction: a liquid solution containing unique bits of DNA that gets sprayed on foods in order to easily identify information about where it came from and how it was produced in the event of an outbreak or recall. DNATrek, a Bay Area startup, is hoping to…
Report: Europe Outranks U.S., Canada and Japan on Food Traceability
Europe, including member countries of either the European Union (EU) or the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), was the only area of the world where food traceability practices were found to be “Superior” in a new report published in the September issue of the peer-reviewed journal, Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety. 
The…