After a decade of food recalls under the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), not everything has turned out as expected.
President Barack Obama signed the FSMA into law during the first week of 2011. Among the many new powers that the FSMA gives the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
Continue Reading Food recalls are a changing mix without being mandatory
It’s Dec. 24, do you know where your name is?
Here at Food Safety News we’ve been checking the year-end Naughty & Nice Lists and we’re ready to nominate some names. When it comes to candy or coal, one thing is as sure as Santa’s annual review — every
Continue Reading We checked it twice: The good, the bad and on the bubble
Although a single supplier has not been identified, federal officials know of a number of specific beef plants that are contaminated with a strain of Salmonella behind a deadly outbreak. But, the USDA won’t name those companies.
Seeking to force the U.S. Department of Agriculture to reveal the information, two
Continue Reading Federal legislators call for USDA to name contaminated beef plants
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Continue Reading GAO says some USDA food safety standards are outdated
Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) are still waiting for answers to animal antibiotics questions posed eight months ago. The senators originally wrote to the co-chairs of the Interagency Task Force for Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria in December 2014 wanting to know about how the task
Continue Reading Senators Still Want Answers From Antibiotic Resistance Task Force
Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) have requested that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) study whether creating a single food agency would increase efficiencies, reduce costs and improve safety. In January, Durbin and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) introduced bills to establish such
Continue Reading Senators Ask GAO to Examine Options for Food Safety Oversight
Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Dick Durbin (D-IL), and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) are asking Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to finalize USDA’s Salmonella and Campylobacter performance standards as soon as possible. In January, USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service’s (FSIS) proposed changes to the Salmonella and Campylobacter Verification Testing Program created brand-new
Continue Reading Senators Want USDA to Finalize Poultry Pathogen Standards
After FRONTLINE’s documentary on Salmonella in poultry aired Tuesday night on PBS, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) officially introduced legislation to give the U.S. Department of Agriculture mandatory recall authority over contaminated meat and poultry. Gillibrand discussed her Meat and Poultry Recall Notification Act with reporters in February, saying that,
Continue Reading Gillibrand Proposes Mandatory Recall Authority for USDA
New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand has once again proposed a law that would give the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) the ability that it does not believe it already has to recall meat tainted with the pathogenic Salmonella bacteria. The law, in essence, would prompt
Continue Reading Publisher’s Platform: A Reasonable Proposal for Safer Meat
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) is proposing legislation that would require recalls of meat and poultry contaminated with pathogens. “As it stands now, if foods like ground beef and sliced turkey are found to be unsafe, the U.S. Department of Agriculture lacks the authority to issue a mandatory recall,” Gillibrand said.
Continue Reading FSIS Would Have Mandatory Recall Authority Under Proposed Bill
