The UK's Food Standards Agency (FSA) reported today that it has acted on recommendations from a government review by making it easier for businesses to appeal against food safety and food standards decisions and advice issued by local authorities. The recommendations were part of the government’s Focus on Enforcement Review that considered enforcement of regulation in small food manufacturing businesses.
Covance, Inc. today announced that it will expand its nutritional chemistry and food safety (NCFS) services by opening a new 10,000-square-foot laboratory this summer within its existing facility in Harrogate, England. The new lab will complement existing laboratories in Madison, WI; Battle Creek, MI; Greenfield, IN; and Singapore.
Life Technologies Corporation today announced that the AFNOR Certification system of France has issued the sector-leading NF Validation quality mark for the Pathatrix® 10 Pooling Salmonella spp. Kit linked to MicroSEQ® Salmonella spp. Detection Kit. Company officials said the approval provides further validation of the alternative cost-effective solution for the accurate detection of Salmonella in a variety of sample matrices, noting that the Pathatrix® 10 Pooling Salmonella spp. Kit received AOAC PTM approval earlier this year.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Jan. 17 warned consumers not to eat oysters harvested from Copano Bay in Texas, as those oysters have been linked to an outbreak of norovirus in Louisiana.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Jan. 16 issued the 2013 Voluntary National Retail Food Regulatory Program Standards (Retail Program Standards). These standards are intended to help reduce foodborne illnesses associated with retail food and foodservice establishments by promoting continuous improvement of food safety inspection programs, the agency said.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is sponsoring a public meeting to provide information and receive public comments on agenda items and draft U.S. positions to be discussed at the first session of the Codex Committee on Spices and Culinary Herbs (CCSCH) of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (Codex). The session will be held in Kochi (Cochin), India from February 11–14, 2014.
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has lowered the tolerable daily intake levels of bisphenol A (BPA) from 50 µg/kg body weight to 5 µg/kg body weight, pending the outcome of research by the U.S. National Toxicology Program. A publication date for the research is currently unknown.
The USDA-FSIS announced today that it is launching a 12-month Nationwide Beef and Veal Carcass Baseline Survey (B-VCBS) to sample establishments that slaughter and process beef and veal carcasses. During this survey, FSIS will collect samples from the carcasses of steers, heifers, cows, bulls, stag, dairy cows and veal, including heavy calves, bob veal and non-formula fed and formula fed veal. Samples will be collected at two locations in the slaughter process, immediately after hide removal (pre-evisceration) and at pre-chill (after all anti-microbial interventions). Overall, approximately 4,000 samples will be scheduled.
CDC is collaborating with public health officials in Tennessee and the USDA-FSIS to investigate an outbreak of Salmonella Heidelberg infections among nine inmates at a Tennessee correctional facility. Results from Tennessee’s investigation indicate that mechanically separated chicken produced by Tyson Foods, Inc. is the likely source of the outbreak at the jail.
Once Salmonella bacteria get into a food processing facility and have an opportunity to form a biofilm on surfaces, it is likely to be extraordinarily difficult, if not impossible, to kill those bacteria, according to research conducted at the National University of Ireland, Galway. In a study published in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology, the Irish researchers discuss their attempts — using three types of disinfectant — to kill Salmonella biofilms on a variety of hard surfaces.
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