USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has announced a series of prevention-based food safety policy measures, including a final rule designed to make FSIS aware of adulterated or misbranded food in the supply chain
traceback
The ‘Meatpacking Maverick’ and USDA’s New Traceback Policy
If you follow food safety policy, there’s a good chance that when you think of traceback, you think of John Munsell. Once dubbed the “meatpacking maverick,” Munsell has been extremely critical of the fact that…
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USDA to Trace Beef Contaminated With E. Coli Back to Source
The U.S. Department of Agriculture said Wednesday it will soon begin tracing meat contaminated with E. coli O157:H7 back to the source before illnesses are linked to the product and in some cases even before…
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Produce Traceability Survey to Measure Industry Progress
The companies and associations involved in the the Produce Traceability Initiative (PTI) — which is aimed at maximizing traceback in the industry — released a new online survey this week to assess the extent of…
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Why Do Beef Trimmings Need to be Sanitized?
A central focus in the controversy over the use of ammoniated hydroxide to sanitize beef trimmings are the claims that the source meat may be highly pathogenic, otherwise destined for dog food or laced with…
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Food Safety Agencies Plan Meeting on Food Attribution
The leading food safety agencies–U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)–recently announced they will hold a…
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Tracebacks and USDA: Mutually Exclusive?
On Aug. 3, 2011, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack gave a speech in Milwaukee that included the following statement:
“In 90 days, I expect the agency [FSIS] to announce the first step in transforming our…
Letter From The Editor: Is That All There Is?
Peggy Lee always sang girl songs with an edge. Consider the one that included these lyrics:
Is that all there is, is that all there is
If that’s all there is my friends,
then let’s …
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The Uninvited Holiday Guest: Foodborne Illness
Editor’s note: Authors of this guest column are Andy Monshaw and Steve Eiseler.
A 22-year-old college student spent her Thanksgiving break at her grandparents’ home — in bed, sick, with what her family assumed was…
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Growers Co-op Partners with IBM for Traceability
Cherry Central, a domestic cooperative of hundreds of fruit and vegetable growers, announced last week it’s now using IBM analytics technology to achieve “true visibility” as their products move from their co-op farms on through…
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