Food Safety: Page 49

General Mills Inc. Expands Flour Recall Due to More Illnesses

The addition of new flour production dates is the result of General Mills conducting proactive flour testing and new information from health officials who are using new whole genome sequencing techniques to trace illnesses.

Previously announced recalled flour production dates ranged from November 4, 2015 through December 4, 2015. The expansion announced today includes select production dates through February 10, 2016.

Bar-S Foods Recalls 372,684 Pounds of Chicken and Pork Hot Dogs and Corn Dogs

Bar-S Foods notified FSIS’ Dallas District Office on July 19, 2016, of its intention to recall five chicken and pork hot dog and corn dog products that could potentially be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes.

The ready-to-eat, chicken and pork hot dog and corn dog items were produced on July 10, 11, 12, and 13, 2016.

ConAgra Foods Expands Recall Over Metal Fragments

The problem was first discovered on July 1 by an employee at the Russellville, Ark., ConAgra facility who observed metal fragments while dispensing sugar from a supplier for sauce formulation during processing.

The fragments range in size between 2 and 9 millimeters (mm) in diameter, and are curled, malleable and shiny. The metal fragments may be embedded in the sauce contained within the frozen entrée products.

Harmonization In Food Safety – It Starts From Within

Thermo Fisher Scientific

What’s most exciting for our industry is seeing how it steps up, arming itself with data and technology to ensure that consumers never have to worry whether their food is safe.

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FSMA Requirements Call for Better Data Management

Food & Drug Administration (FDA)

Software can help food supply chain players improve compliance.

While the law includes seven separate rules, it requires more extensive documentation and record keeping for supply chain players.

FDA Warns Whole Foods Market Of Unsafe Food Facility

Food & Drug Administration (FDA)

During five inspections between Feb. 10 and 26, inspectors found food products that were prepared, packed, or held under insanitary conditions, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said in a warning letter dated June 8 and posted on its website.

Local sourcing adds complexity, increases risk and fragments the supply chain, according to John Quelch of Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Food Safety Coalition Petitions USDA Seeks Overhaul Of Food Labels

The Safe Food Coalition has requested that the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) add requirements for a SHI label for all raw or partially cooked siluriformes fish, including catfish products.

The revised rules should continue to require that labels provide information about the potential risk of pathogenic contamination of USDA products. They should further require that labels provide more specific information about safe handling practices for meat, poultry and catfish products.

CSPI Sues FDA For Failing To Regulate Lethal Shellfish

Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI)

CSPI claims without this safety standard, in the next year, an estimated 30 people will become seriously ill, and 15 of them will die, after consuming raw shellfish that contain the bacteria, called Vibrio vulnificus (V. vulnificus), according to CSPI.

The majority of the illnesses have been linked to the eating of raw oysters.

Growers Eye FSMA Enforcement

Most produce growers, packers, processors or sellers will be subject to the rule, with staggered compliance deadlines ranging from two to four years, depending on the size of the operation.

Published in the Federal Register on Nov. 27, 2015, the final version of the Produce Safety Rule “establishes, for the first time, science-based minimum standards for the safe growing, harvesting, packing and holding of fruits and vegetables grown for human consumption,” according to the Food and Drug Administration.

FDA Issues Draft Guidance For Qualified Facilities Under FSMA Preventive Controls Rules

Food & Drug Administration (FDA)

A business that meets the definition of a “qualified facility” is subject to modified requirements of the preventive controls rules.

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Feds Investigate Dole Salad Contamination, Drawing Calls For Better Accountability

Dole Food Company

The Justice Department has launched a criminal investigation into Dole Food Co. over a listeria outbreak linked to four deaths in the U.S. and Canada and multiple other illnesses.

U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., the ranking Democrat on the subcommittee responsible for funding the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, said Dole’s continued operation of the plant was “an outrage.”

CDC Warns About Cronobacter Contamination In Powdered Infant Formula

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

Cronobacter has been found in various dry foods, such as formula, powdered milk, herbal teas and starches. It has also been found in sewer water and may be found in other places, too, according to the CDC.

Cronobacter bacteria can cause severe blood infections or meningitis, an inflammation of the membranes that protect the brain and spine. Infants two months of age and younger are most likely to develop meningitis if they are infected with Cronobacter.

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