Representative Rosa DeLauro, D-CT, has introduced the Toxic Free Food Act, which would require the FDA to close the “Generally Recognized as Safe” (GRAS) loophole and make chemical food additives subject to FDA approval and oversight.
The veteran lawmaker also submitted public comment to the Food and Drug Administration as
Continue Reading U.S. Representative DeLauro introduces Toxic Free Food Act, closing GRAS loophole
– OPINION –
The U.S. Senate confirmed Dr. Robert Califf as Commissioner of Food and Drugs by a 50-46 vote only a few weeks ago. And the FDA Commissioner had to spend this week bouncing back and forth between the House and Senate, testifying for hours about the infant formula
Continue Reading Letter from the Editor: Careful what you step in when on Capitol Hill
USDA’s new swine slaughter inspection system has been 22 years in the making. And if the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) wants to avoid further delay, it likely must act this month or next before the federal Fiscal Year 2019 expires on Sept. 30.
The Fiscal Year 2020 Agricultural
Continue Reading Real deadline for new hog slaughter inspection rule might be Sept. 30
Yesterday’s big beef recall is the largest in history for possible Salmonella contamination, according to an online discussion involving retired USDA microbiologist Carl Custer.
Custer responded to comments to the industry newsletter Meatingplace that included this one: “Never such a massive recall on ground beef related to Salmonella,” “Not saying
Continue Reading Treating virulent strain of Salmonella as adulterant in largest beef recall in history
About one-third of the U.S. House Democratic caucus has signed a letter to Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue demanding that USDA drop the Swine Slaughter Inspection Modernization Rule.
Led by long-time food safety advocate Rep. Rosa L. DeLauro, D-CT, 63 of the 193 members of the House Democratic Caucus came
Continue Reading Union’s allies in House again come out against new swine rule
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
Ten Democrats who are members of the Congressional Food Safety Caucus are asking President Donald J. Trump and Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue to get someone named as USDA’s Under Secretary for Food Safety.
In April 2017 Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, left, sat at the right
Continue Reading Food Safety Caucus urges Trump to name Under Secretary
Instructions for testing personnel to use a new “neutralizing buffer” solution to reduce the effect of antimicrobial sanitizers take effect today at USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS). The “fix,” explained in a two-page FSIS Notice, is intended to address a problem turned up in research by USDA’s
Continue Reading USDA introduces ‘fix’ in testing for Salmonella in poultry
Welcome to Beach Beat — I figure when your mom gives you a great byline at birth, you should use it every chance you get. I couldn’t be happier about my byline being added to the list of journalists at Food Safety News. 
In case you missed it, or
Continue Reading Beach Beat: Nuggets of news from recent days
Sixty liberal and mostly urban congressional Democrats have weighed in with their opinions about making bacon, telling the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture to further delay expansion of the 20-year old hog Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point-based Inspection Models Project (HIMP) pilot program. 
Secretary Tom Vilsack, now President Obama’s longest
Continue Reading Sixty Democrats ask Vilsack to delay new hog slaughter rule
