Following mass layoffs that swept regulatory agencies, including those responsible for food safety and foodborne illness response, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has walked back its orders to dismiss probationary employees. The change was prompted by a court decision that deemed OPM’s orders to dismiss staffers as unlawful.
Arizona House Bill 2164, aiming to ban 11 chemicals and colorants, has passed the state House and has moved onto the Senate. Similar bills are currently progressing in West Virginia and Texas.
The Association of Food and Drug Officials (AFDO) is launching a webinar series, titled, Striving and Surviving, aimed at helping U.S. regulatory professionals deal with budget cuts and general uncertainty.
Introduced by Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), the Senate Bill 667, named the Safer Shrimp Imports Act, would require FDA to ensure that food safety inspections for shrimp in importing countries meet standards equivalent to those upheld in the U.S.
If FDA's regulatory decision-making should be based on science, but the Delaney Clause prohibits FDA from considering the totality of the available scientific evidence in making safety determinations for food and color additives, can the Delaney Clause and science-based decision making coexist?
A joint study by World of Auditing and Çağ University aims to deliver science-based insights into the size, scope, and dynamics of food safety auditing challenges and opportunities. Please share your insights in the survey!
Since the inauguration of President Trump, there has been an avalanche of changes at federal regulatory agencies responsible for U.S. food safety and foodborne illness response (FDA, USDA, and CDC), including mass layoffs, the resignation and new appointments of top officials, a communications freeze, and more.
Penn State Extension will host a two-day webinar in April to help produce growers meet the requirements of the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA).
Texas and West Virginia are the latest states to progress bills that aim to ban artificial food dyes and other additives from foods served at schools or from sale statewide.
USDA has announced the availability of financial investments to combat the ongoing highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 outbreak, including $500 million for farm biosecurity and $100 million for the development of chicken vaccines and other therapeutics.