The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced yesterday that an individual in Texas was found to be infected with the same strain of Listeria monocytogenes that has sickened five other people in the Midwest over the past few months. All six individuals reported being hospitalized; one of them died and another, who was pregnant, miscarried as a result of her illness.
The National Restaurant Association (NRA) will hold a series of webinars, set for Aug. 26, Sept. 3 and Sept. 9, to educate restaurateurs on how to accommodate diners with food allergies.
The Produce Marketing Association is offering new resources to help the global fresh produce industry understand the U.S. government's latest proposed rules to implement the 2011 Food Safety Modernization Act. Resources include English and Spanish summaries of FDA’s proposed rule for Foreign Supplier Verification Programs and Accreditation of Third-Party Auditors, plus bilingual, produce-specific webinars explaining the proposed rule.
Britain's National Pig Association (NPA) has issued a statement saying that the group "is worried that the foundations for the next food scandal are already being laid by some retailers as they edge away from the shorter supply chains they promised following Horsegate." NPA has noted a number of pork, bacon and gammon lines being switched back to imported product, because it is marginally cheaper.
In the wake of a recent lawsuit against a Salinas Valley grower alleging responsibility for an E. coli-related death, and an ongoing outbreak of sickness caused by a parasite found in bagged salad from a facility operated by a Taylor Farms subsidiary in Mexico, growers are under increasing pressure to extend animal buffer zones around their crops. That, say wildlife advocates, is unnecessary and is harming the environment.
New Zealand must implement interim food-safety measures to guarantee its exports are safe and contamination free, the opposition demanded on August 21 after news of another incident involving Fonterra.
Food safety topped a recent list of public concerns in China, according to a report developed by the Public Opinion Research Laboratory of Jiao Tong University. The report showed that "illegal additives, poor hygiene, and unsafe materials in the manufacturing process [of food]," have caused more concern than anything else over the past year.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on August 16 announced its intent to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) that will assess the potential environmental effects of the proposed rule, “Standards for Growing, Harvesting, Packing and Holding of Produce for Human Consumption.”
The owner of a meat trading company is to sue the factory at the centre of the horsemeat contamination scandal for defamation. Martin McAdam of McAdam Food Products claims the ABP Food group deliberately made defamatory allegations about him and his business.
Federal Judge Phyllis Hamilton has sided with the Center for Food Safety again; on August 13 she told the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that there can be no more extensions of rules in the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). The rules should have been completed last July, but there have been delays at the Office of Management and Budget, and the FDA has extended comment periods several times.