The ready-to-eat (RTE) category includes foods that are assembled from ingredients into fully prepared meals that do not require cooking, chilling, or other preparation prior to consumption.
USDA-FSIS has published its Annual Sampling Plan for Fiscal Year (FY) 2025, outlining the agency’s strategy for directing sampling resources in the coming year.
Uncovered through a FOIA request, an FDA form sent to Taylor Farms’ Colorado Springs facility—the supplier of McDonald’s onions behind the deadly Escherichia coli outbreak that occurred in late 2024—documented dozens of food safety and hygiene violations.
USDA-FSIS published a summary of its review of the deadly Boar’s Head Listeria monocytogenes outbreak, along with newly announced long-term measures to review and modernize its L. monocytogenes regulations and ready-to-eat (RTE) sampling programs.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has published a Long-Term National Strategy to Increase the Resiliency of the U.S. Infant Formula Market, building upon actions taken by the agency and implementing learnings from research conducted since the 2022 infant formula supply crisis.
FDA has released four new guidance documents to help industry comply with food labeling regulations concerning allergens and plant-based alternatives to animal foods, as well as food safety regulations for ready-to-eat (RTE), low-moisture foods.
FDA issued a new final guidance for industry on the action levels for lead in processed food intended for babies and young children. Action levels are levels of a contaminant at which the agency may consider a food to be adulterated.
Boar’s Head has responded to a letter from 22 members of Congress probing the company about the recent, fatal listeriosis outbreak linked to its products. Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), who signed the letter, called Boar’s Head’s response “not credible” and “a classic corporate dodge.”
To assist interpretation of test results generated by UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) microbiology laboratories, UKHSA has published new guidelines for assessing the microbiological safety of ready-to-eat (RTE) foods placed on the market.
Following the high-profile, fatal listeriosis outbreak linked to Boar’s Head ready-to-eat (RTE) deli meats that prompted an internal review of USDA-FSIS processes, the agency has announced several new steps to strengthen its oversight of RTE facilities, including expanded Listeria rule requirements and stricter state-federal cooperative inspection agreements.
After a second Listeria monocytogenes strain related to clinical isolates was discovered through environmental and product testing, the patient count in the foodborne illness outbreak linked to Yu Shang ready-to-eat meat and poultry products has risen to 19, including an additional infant death.