Food Safety: Page 54

FDA overreaches with new food-safety regulations

Regulatory burdens create economic hardship that spreads across sectors, ultimately harming consumers. The broad regulatory scope of FSMA will surely create those burdens, all while doing little to improve food safety.

Josh Rolph is manager of federal policy for the California Farm Bureau Federation. He may be contacted at jrolph@cfbf.com.

Del Monte Fresh Produce Recalls Apples Over Listeria

Fresh Del Monte Produce

A total of 695 boxes containing 8 “Granny Smith” green apples each and 67 clear plastic bags containing 6 “Granny Smith” green apples each were distributed to Coremark and 7-Eleven for sale in convenience stores in the Mountain States region.

Dole Recalls Bagged Salad Over Salmonella Risk

Dole Food Company

The salads were distributed in 13 U.S. states including Connecticut, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Wisconsin.

Dole Fresh Vegetables is voluntarily recalling a limited number of cases of bagged salad with an “Enjoy By” date of October 15 due to a possible health risk from Salmonella.

FDA Releases Training Strategy For FSMA Compliance

Food & Drug Administration (FDA)

The strategy outlines the options for those who must comply with the new food safety regulations and introduces the FDA’s partners in promoting training to the global community of food suppliers.

The FSMA Training Strategy outlines those options and formats, in addition to introducing the partners in government, industry and academia who are working with the FDA on the development and delivery of training to the global community of food suppliers.

California Restricts Antibiotics For Livestock

Roughly 70 percent of antibiotics important for human medicine are sold in the U.S. for use in meat and dairy production, public health experts say.

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European Food Safety Officials Take Closer Look At Insects As Protein

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is getting involved by studying the potential risks from production, processing, and consumption of insect protein.

Earlier this year, Belgium’s Federal Agency for Safety of the Food Chain stated that insects for human consumption “appear to offer great potential” as an alternative protein source. The agency’s scientific committee went so far as to acknowledge that breeding and marketing insects is already being tolerated in some parts of the European Union without any formal regulations.

Cucumber Salmonella Outbreak Claims A Third Life

Health officials in Pima County, Ariz., confirmed an “older female who had serious underlying health conditions died while being treated” for a salmonella infection in a hospital.

A third death is now linked to the salmonella poona outbreak associated with fresh cucumbers imported by Andrew & Williamson Fresh Produce Inc.

Court Sentences Peanut Corp. Owner To 28 Years Over Salmonella Outbreak

The outbreak in 2008 and 2009 killed nine Americans and sickened hundreds more, and triggered one of the largest food recalls in US history.

Peanut Corporation of America owner Stewart Parnell testifies before Congress.

CDC Links Soft Cheese To To 24 Illnesses And One Death

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

The 24 illnesses in nine states have been report since Aug. 8, 2010, including one death reported from Ohio and 21 people who were hospitalized.

The illnesses are in California (14), Colorado (1), Illinois (1), Massachusetts (2), Michigan (1), New York (2), Ohio (1), Tennessee (1), and Washington (1).

Pest Management

Florida Declare State Of Emergency Over Fruit Fly Invasion

The declaration allows Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam to expand state authority and tap into additional resources, including law enforcement, to control the largest outbreak on record and maintain an 85-square-mile quarantine in the Redland.

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Produce Company Recalls Cucumbers Following Salmonella Outbreak In 27 States

Andrew and Williamson Fresh Produce said this weekend it was voluntarily recalling the cucumbers and working with the Centers for Disease Control to determine if, in fact, the cucumbers were the source of the outbreak now reportedly covering 27 states.

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Chemicals In Food Replaces Foodborne Illness As Top Consumer Concern

International Food Information Council

This year, 36 percent of Americans cited "chemicals in food," such as pesticide residues, as the most important food safety issue for them and their family, edging out "foodborne illness from bacteria" (34 percent).

This year, 36 percent of Americans cited 'chemicals in food,' such as pesticide residues, as the most important food safety issue for them and their family, edging out 'foodborne illness from bacteria' (34 percent).

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