In just the past few months, outbreaks involving romaine lettuce, pre-cut melons and Honey Smacks cereal have reminded us that the work to more effectively prevent foodborne illness is far from complete. People are still getting sick and dying, and markets are still being disrupted. Make no mistake, the commitment and effort are there among…
USDA’s organic enforcement efforts find fraudulent certificates
The USDA’s National Organic Program completed more complaint reviews and investigations that it received in 2017. It finished work on 462 reviews and investigations while receiving 379 incoming complaints during the fiscal year 2017 ending last Sept. 30.
Under the jurisdiction of USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service, the organic program recently updated reports on enforcement activities…
Pesticide report shows no residue on half of U.S. food tested
The annual analysis of pesticide residues in domestic and imported foods, with the results for fiscal year 2015, showed 98 percent of tested foods produced in the United States do not violate federal limits.
Of the 835 domestic food samples tested from 39 states, almost half, 49.8 percent,…
OIG says USDA reviews of exporting countries are inadequate
“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines,” said early-American philosopher and essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson.
But in the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, consistency gets greater appreciation. In its recent evaluation of USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service…
Imported food sickens more Americans than ever
Increasing demand in the U.S. for year-round access to all foods means more foreign food in grocery stores and that means more foodborne illness outbreaks from imported food.
Writing for the March edition of Emerging Infectious Diseases, a journal of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, four researchers take a deep dive into outbreak…
FDA’s Foreign Supplier rule has an especially ambitious agenda
Of the seven rules the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued under the 2011 Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), the one regarding Foreign Supplier Verification Programs (FSVP) is particularly ambitious. It attempts a number of things never done before with respect to the U.S. food safety system.
As FDA describes it, FSVP …
Listeria spurs additional Pecorino aged cheese recall in 9 states
Forever Cheese Inc. is recalling Mitica brand imported Pecorino Aged Cheese in Walnut Leaves that was shipped to nine states because of possible contamination with Listeria monocytogenes. 
“The recall was the result of a routine sampling program by Forever Cheese which revealed that the imported cheese tested positive for the bacteria,” according to the recall …
Will FDA’s New Food Import Programs Make Food Safer?
First, the statistics. At the time that President Obama signed the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) into law in 2011, the United States imported about 15-20 percent of its domestic food supply, and as many as 70 percent of the food importers were small companies. Since FSMA was passed, the amount of food imported on…
FDA’s Taylor Visits China to Strengthen Food Safety Ties
Today, 15 percent of America’s food supply is imported from other countries, including 80 percent of seafood and 50 percent of fresh fruit. An increasing amount of that food is coming from China, a country with a food safety track record that leaves many American consumers uneasy. Part of the 2011 Food Safety Modernization Act…
JIFSAN: FDA-University Partnership Helps Enhance the Safety of Imported Food
A significant portion of the food that Americans consume comes from overseas, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) doesn’t have the ability to inspect all imports, so it’s not a bad idea to intervene with preventive measures before the food reaches our ports. “It’s much better and more efficient to control the problem…
As More Imported Foods Reach the Dinner Table, Holes Remain in the FDA Safety Net
(This report by Rick Schmitt was first published June 26, 2014, by FairWarning, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit news organization focused on public health, safety and environmental issues, and related topics of government and business accountability.) In April 2012, a team of inspectors from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) investigated a seafood company…