Contamination Control

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With each passing year, new and emerging technologies and techniques that have promise for advancing food safety are developed and validated. This article summarizes the top food safety innovations of 2023, based on audience interest. 

In this episode of Food Safety Matters, we review the top food safety stories of 2023 and their implications, covering regulatory changes in the U.S. and abroad; growing concerns about chemical additives and contaminants, allergens, traceability requirements, infant formula, and retail foodservice safety; and the Poisoned documentary that premiered on Netflix in summer 2023.

A proposed strategy from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) aims to improve the agency’s screening process for the harmful effects that pesticides and agricultural chemicals may have on the human endocrine system, starting with immediately requiring additional data to be submitted by the manufacturers of certain high-priority chemicals. 

With regard to the recently recalled, lead-contaminated applesauce packages that have caused lead poisoning among dozens of children, Jim Jones, Deputy Commissioner for Human Foods at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), recently shared that the agency’s leading theory is economically motivated adulteration of cinnamon used in the products.

Two complimentary studies funded by the Center for Produce Safety (CPS) are using genomic sequencing technology to examine how storage conditions affect microbial growth on pears, with a focus on Listeria monocytogenes.

ColloidTek’s Collo Analyzer is a new method for real-time liquid process quality monitoring. Based on EMF sensors and machine learning, the technology detects various contaminants and identifies potential risks in liquid processing with a single real-time measurement and instant, inline analysis.

The UK Food Standards Authority Board recently decided it would begin discussions with UK Ministers about making written allergen information for non-prepackaged food a requirement, and will begin drafting guidance for industry in the meantime.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has provided an update on its completed and ongoing actions to strengthen the safety and resiliency of the nation’s supply of infant formula, including specific actions the agency has taken to meet the recommendations made in FDA’s evaluation of the infant formula crisis response.

Campylobacter and Salmonella infections reported in the EU in 2022 remained below pre-pandemic (2018–2019) levels, according to the latest EU One Health zoonoses report, but the number of reported foodborne illness outbreaks increased by 44 percent in comparison to 2021.

This article examines FDA's investigation of the 2022 regional outbreak of Salmonella Typhimurium on cantaloupe from the Southwest Indiana growing region, which caused 87 reported illnesses and 32 hospitalizations between July and September of that year, and discusses several themes and conclusions related to the outbreak, such as how "business as usual" will continue to produce the same results.