Strict requirements on the use of animal manures in fresh produce production imposed by the Food Safety and Modernization Act (FSMA) threatened to adversely impact the mushroom industry, which relies on horse and poultry manure for a specialized growth substrate. But a new study shows that heat generated during the traditional composting process — originally developed to kill insect and fungal pests of mushrooms — is adequate for eliminating human pathogens that might be present, according to researchers in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences.
One elderly woman has died and 11 other individuals have fallen ill from after consuming raw milk cheese from a small artisan cheese farm in Salmon Arm, BC, that may have been contaminated with E. coli O157:H7.
Agilent Technologies Inc. on Sept. 19 announced plans to separate into two publicly traded companies: one in life sciences, diagnostics and applied markets that will retain the Agilent name, and another — to be named later — that will be comprised of Agilent's current portfolio of electronic measurement products.
Vaccinating cattle against E. coli bacteria could cut the number of human infections by 85 percent, far higher than previous estimates, British scientists say.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has posted an update on its website stating, "To date, no evidence that radionuclides from the Fukushima incident are present in the U.S. food supply at levels that would pose a public health concern. This is true for both FDA-regulated food products imported from Japan and U.S. domestic food products, including seafood caught off the coast of the United States."
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Sept. 16 released a report [Antibiotic Resistance Threats in the United States, 2013] on the epidemic of drug-resistant bacteria in the United States. For the first time, the agency came up with a ranking of the threats posed by different drug-resistance microbes, listing them as "urgent," "serious," and "concerning."
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has extended by 60 days the period for submission of comments, scientific data and other information in connection with its draft guidance for industry titled “Arsenic in Apple Juice: Action Level.” The new deadline is November 12, 2013.
Sainsbury's is recalling all of its own-brand watercress due to an E.coli outbreak that has made 18 people ill. The Food Standards Agency (FSA) said the supermarket giant was also recalling salads containing watercress. It said the move was a precautionary measure due to a possible association with an outbreak of E.coli VTEC O157.
BBC News today reported that the UK's Food Standards Agency (FSA) has launched a strategy aimed at reducing the number of illnesses from Britain's most common cause of food poisoning — campylobacter.