— OPINION —
For nearly a decade and a half, food safety advocates like me have recited CDC’s 2011 foodborne illness estimates: 3,000 deaths. 128,000 hospitalizations. 48 million illnesses (1 in every 6 Americans).
At long last, CDC has provided us with an update to these estimates, or they
Continue Reading A new foodborne illness benchmark, just in time for ‘shock and awe’
— OPINION —
Recently, the Government Accountability Office issued a report calling for a unified food safety strategy.
There aren’t too many topics more important for a nation than its ability to provide its citizens with access to safe, nutritious, and affordable food. To do that efficiently and effectively
Continue Reading A future-looking, prevention-based national food safety strategy
A new report from the Government Accountability Office states that most goals to reduce foodborne illnesses in America have not been met.
The GAO report points out that the safety and quality of the U.S. food supply is governed by at least 30 laws and 15 governmental agencies. The federal
Continue Reading Government Accountability Office says the country needs a unified food safety system
Until Food Safety News Managing Editor Coral Beach called me recently to talk about the relationship between the FDA’s budget and that of the entire federal government, it had been a while since I had considered the subject.
If I remember correctly, an old General Accounting Office (GAO) report said
Continue Reading Letter from the Editor: Food safety’s budget
A new report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) says federal food safety agencies “could strengthen existing efforts to prepare for oversight of cell-cultured meat.”
However, the most interesting part of this latest GAO report on cell-cultured meat, which is grown in labs, is the vast number of questions
Continue Reading Getting-to-Market barriers for cell-cultured meat discussed in new GAO report
Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) in humans is rare, with only about 40 cases recorded since 1921, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
But FMD is a highly contagious viral disease that causes fever and painful lesions in the hooves, mouths, and udders of cloven-hoofed animals. The last FMD
Continue Reading GAO report says USDA should up its game and store more FMD vaccine
The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) should carry on with its work to reduce pathogens in meat and poultry, but first, the agency needs to improve documentation, add some timelines to its tasks and check on the effectiveness of on-farm practices.
Those three new recommendations by the Government
Continue Reading GAO says some USDA food safety standards are outdated
At the request of Rep. Rosa L. DeLauro, D-CT, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) has returned to the problem of managing the risk of arsenic in rice. The GAO is an agency in the legislative branch of the federal government that provides auditing, evaluation and investigative services for Congress
Continue Reading GAO tells Rep. DeLauro that agencies need to pick up the pace
U.S. seafood imports from as many as 140 countries reached 6 billion pounds by 2015, with 50 percent coming from foreign fish farms.
“As imports of farmed seafood increase, so too do the concerns over the presence of drug residues,” says a new U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) report prepared
Continue Reading GAO warns FDA, FSIS about drug residue in seafood imports
Every once in a while in the news business, a feeling comes through our once ink-filled veins. It does not reach everyone at the same time or place, but eventually we all say it: “I think we’ve turned a page.”
That’s what I began feeling during the past week or
Continue Reading Letter from The Editor: Turning the Page
