The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA’s FSIS) has updated its Best Practices Guidance for Controlling Listeria monocytogenes in Retail Delicatessens.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently released the findings of a sampling assignment that collected and tested ready-to-eat (RTE) dips and spreads with the aim of determining the presence of Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA’s FSIS) has released a guidance document for manufacturing ready-to-eat (RTE), shelf-stable, fermented, salt-cured, and dried meat and poultry products that do not use cooking as the primary lethality step. FSIS is seeking comments and will host two webinars. 

Ready-to-eat (RTE) foods have been processed so that they can be safely consumed without the need for further heat treatment and minimal to no further preparation. Many of the technologies adopted by the private sector to develop and manufacture RTE foods for consumers were created and first commercialized by the U.S. Armed Forces.

Food companies that prepare fresh food items often source individual ingredients from primary suppliers. The food safety risk is typically controlled at primary supplier plants or farms; however, the food safety stakes are high. It is necessary to have "boots on the ground" to assess how food safety and quality programs are integrated with the front-line operation for those suppliers who mitigate food safety risk on the behalf of a receiving company.