Reports released by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)--along with documents obtained by the Houston Chronicle--show that Blue Bell Creameries knew about Listeria contamination in their production facilities in March 2013, but they failed to take action to prevent an outbreak from occurring.
After a recall of all its products in April, Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams conducted swab testing and has officially identified the source of its Listeria outbreak--a machine spout location in one of the company’s production facilities in Columbus, OH.
Last week, China’s Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress voted to amend its current food safety law in an effort to enforce stricter punishments for violations as well as more stringent rules and regulations regarding infant formula. The amendment is planned for enforcement on October 1, 2015.
Revisions to International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 22000 are in the works as new food safety management requirements are set to be published in 2017, which will be 12 years after the standard was first published.
On the heels of a high-profile Listeria outbreak and the recall of all Blue Bell ice cream products, seven Democratic U.S. senators on Thursday called on the Senate Appropriations Committee to fully fund the federal Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) by approving President Obama’s request for an additional $109.5 million to implement the law.
Tyson Foods announced this week that they plan to completely eliminate the use of human antibiotics from its chicken flocks by the end of September 2017.
A new report released by the Consumer Federation of America (CFA) alleges that a 20 year old food safety program initiated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has not performed as planned.
This week, the European Commission announced that when it comes to GMOs, “the need for changes that reflect public views and allow national governments to have a greater say on the use of European Union (EU)-authorized GMOs for animal (feed) or human (food) consumption.”