The federal government could be doing more to achieve the goals of the U.S. Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) and other food-safety efforts, according to a 46-page report published Thursday by the U.S. Government Accountability
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GAO Finds Fault With Government Tests for Pesticide Residues
Government agencies in charge of monitoring food for pesticide residues must step up their testing programs, said the Government Accountability Office in a new report. While data collected by these agencies has shown low levels
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GAO: USDA Needs to Tighten Up Salmonella and Campylobacter Standards for Poultry
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) is recommending that the Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) take action to reduce pathogen contamination on chicken and turkey products, make sure that agency food-safety
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Full Disclosure: Changes to Poultry Inspections Needed to Protect Public Health
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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