For the past 15 years, USDA conducted a pilot project to inform how we modernize our inspection process – all to ensure that meat and poultry is safe to eat. Today, the U.S. Government Accountability
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GAO Report Questions USDA Plans to Change Poultry Inspection Program
A Government Accountability Office report being released Wednesday questions whether the U.S. Department of Agriculture used bad information to justify plans for nearly nationwide expansion of its poultry-inspection pilot program. According to Tuesday’s Washington Post
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Rep. Markey Introduces SAFE Seafood Act to Combat Fish Fraud
U.S. Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA.) on Wednesday re-introduced a new, bipartisan version of a previously-introduced bill to combat widespread seafood fraud “that cheats fishermen and consumers, while posing health risks to pregnant mothers and others,”
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Food Safety Remains on GAO's 'High-Risk' List
Food safety remains on the Government Accountability Office’s “high-risk” list, according to an update put out by the agency Thursday. As GAO noted in its report, the U.S. government is the “world’s largest and most
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Third-Party Audits – Their Crucial Role in Moving Forward With FSMA and Food Safety
I recently had the honor of speaking at the 2012 Safe Quality Food International Conference in Cincinnati on the topic of the crucial role of third-party audits in moving forward with FSMA and food safety.
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House Majority Leader Commits to Vote on Stalled Farm Bill
While in Boise, Idaho on Thursday, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) publicly committed to holding a vote on the 2012 farm bill after the election. The commitment comes nearly a month after Congress let
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GAO: FDA Should Improve Food Recall Communication
The Government Accountability Office issued a report this week recommending that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration clarify its food recall process and do a better job communicating recalls and foodborne illness outbreaks to the
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McCain Takes Aim at ‘Senseless’ Catfish Inspection Program
Senator and former presidential contender John McCain (R-AZ) is at war against “senseless” measures in the farm bill and the pending catfish inspection program is on his list of top targets. On the floor Thursday,
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GAO Looks at Preslaughter Interventions to Reduce E. coli
Though researchers are familiar with pre-slaughter E. coli interventions such as probiotics, vaccines, certain chemicals and viruses that kill the bacteria, few manufacturers are seeking approval for these technologies. Government could do more to encourage
Still Too Many Raw Oyster Deaths in Gulf States
There’s red tide in Texas, salinity levels in state waters are way off in Mississippi, and Louisiana has fallen behind Washington state in oyster production. To say Gulf oystermen have not had much cause for