NASEM has completed a study to better understand the nutritional benefits of seafood consumption versus the health hazards posed by contaminants like toxic heavy metals. The study fulfills a request from FDA, partly in a Closer to Zero effort to answer questions about mercury exposure. A webinar about the findings will be held on March 26, 2024.
PFAS are sometimes used in pesticides as active substances or co-formulants. An analysis of EU pesticide residue monitoring data by Pesticide Action Network Europe shows that the average proportion of produce containing PFAS pesticide residues in the EU has nearly tripled over the last decade.
Following the wave of state-level legislation on food additives cropping up across the U.S., two bills have been introduced in Pennsylvania to prohibit nine chemicals from being used as food additives in the state. Additionally, Kentucky wrote a resolution urging FDA to mandate a prohibition on U.S. food manufacturers producing or selling food containing harmful ingredients that have been banned by several other countries.
The Environmental Working Group (EWG) has published its Dirty Dozen list for 2024, describing the 12 fruits and vegetables most contaminated with pesticide residues, alongside its Clean Fifteen list, which contains the 15 commodities with the lowest amounts of pesticide residue.
Researchers recently demonstrated the inadequacy of an industry standard quality test—Laboratory Pasteurization Count—for raw, organic milk, as it cannot sufficiently differentiate between groups of bacteria.
Scientists from USDA’s Agricultural Research Service are exploring how “transgenerational protection”—which is the ability of layer hens to pass along their resistance to Salmonella to their broiler chicks—can be encouraged, to ultimately reduce early colonization that introduces microbial contamination at the processing plant and poses a food safety risk to consumers.
Researchers have created a coating for galvanized steel food containers that repels bacteria and fungi, is mud-resistant, and reduces the risk of corrosion.
The FAO/WHO Joint Expert Meetings on Microbiological Risk Assessment (JEMRA) convened to review the most recent scientific literature regarding the control of Campylobacter on chicken meat. The experts emphasized the importance of a multi-hurdle approach in production and processing.
Missouri and Washington are the latest states to introduce bills to ban the same four food additives as the California Food Safety Act: brominated vegetable oil, potassium bromate, propylparaben, and red dye 3.
A bill has been introduced by California Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel (D-46), who was also behind the recently passed California Food Safety Act, to the California Assembly. Assembly Bill (AB) 2316 would prohibit food containing red dye 40 and titanium dioxide, among other color additives, from being offered by California public schools.
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