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In this episode of Food Safety Matters, we discuss the top food safety stories of 2024 and their implications, including high-profile foodborne illness outbreaks, the ongoing avian flu outbreak in poultry and dairy cattle, FDA’s Human Foods Program restructuring, rising concerns and evolving legislation around food additives and chemical contaminants, and other topics.

USDA is soliciting nominations for 30 new appointees to the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods (NACMCF), who will be tasked with reviewing USDA-FSIS’ regulatory approach for Listeria, among other charges.

This article addresses the requirements of the 3-A Sanitary Standards and some common misconceptions. It also describes the relationship between the 3-A Standards and U.S. federal regulations, as well as hygienic requirements beyond the sanitary design of the equipment—installation, validation, and maintenance.

This column explores food processors’ comments on the potential impacts of important industry developments, including the establishment of FDA’s Human Foods Program and USDA’s developing new regulatory approach to Salmonella in poultry. The article also delves into processors' priorities for their food safety programs in 2025. 

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.

The EU has implemented a new regulation that requires U.S. importers of apiculture products like honey to register with the EU’s Trade Control and Expert System (TRACES). Prior to TRACES registration, businesses must complete an assessment with USDA and an application with FDA.

In support of its proposed regulatory framework for Salmonella in raw poultry, USDA-FSIS has notified veterinary biologics manufacturers of its interest in vaccines for serotypes of public health significance. 

Salmonella illnesses in the U.S. in 2022 were attributed to a wide variety of foods, while Escherichia coli and Listeria monocytogenes infections were mostly linked to two or three food groups, according to the Interagency Food Safety Analytics Collaboration’s (IFSAC’s) latest foodborne illness source attribution report.   

In this episode of Food Safety Matters, we speak to Thomas Gremillion, Director of Food Policy at the Consumer Federation of America (CFA) and the coordinator of the Safe Food Coalition, about CFA’s advocacy for stronger federal food safety regulation. We also discuss CFA’s perspectives on current food safety regulatory hot topics. 

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.