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Health Law

Food Safety News

Daily online newspaper dedicated to reporting on issues surrounding food safety.
By Dan Flynn and Suzanna Schreck

Post Frequency: 31.2/day

Last Entry: March 31, 2011 at 06:59:07

Fish Markets Get Botulism Warning

Posted on January 28, 2011
Oregon's 121-year old Newman's Fish Markets Inc. received a warning letter last Dec. 7 from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) over violations at its seafood processing facility in Portland. It concerns Newman's hot smoked, vacuum-packed, refrigerated salmon; sturgeon; escolar; tuna and black cod...

Canada Food Safety Violations Result in Fines

Posted on January 28, 2011
Two companies and one veterinarian are paying fines totaling $125,000 for violations of agricultural laws enforced by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA).The penalties are the first court-imposed sanctions of the year for failure to abide by laws that fall under CFIA jurisdiction...

Why the Happy Meal is Already Illegal

Posted on January 28, 2011
When it comes to food, everybody's got an opinion. Same goes for parenting. Mix the two together and you've got the makings of a culture war. Witness the recent scuffle between Sarah Palin and Michelle Obama over the White House's rather tame Let's Move campaign aimed at ending childhood obesity...

FDA's Taylor: 'We'll Hit the Ground Running'

Posted on January 28, 2011
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is going into overdrive and and working with the food industry to meet the historic mandate of the new food safety law, Michael Taylor, FDA deputy commissioner for foods, said Thursday."We'll hit the ground running," said Taylor before an audience of food and drug safety experts during The Food and Drug Law Institute's Food Week in Washington, D...

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Studies Show Benefit of UV Light on Fresh Produce

Posted on January 28, 2011
Preliminary studies by Tara H. McHugh, a food technologist and research leader at the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Processed Foods Research Unit at the Western Regional Research Center in Albany, California, along with her research team, have recently revealed the benefits of exposing vegetables to certain kinds of ultraviolet light...

USDA Fully Deregulates Roundup Ready Alfalfa

Posted on January 28, 2011
In an unexpected move, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced Thursday that USDA will allow genetically engineered (GE) Roundup Ready alfalfa to be planted without restriction.The announcement bucked expectations that the deparment's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) would likely introduce a partial deregulation of the crop, which is engineered to withstand Monsanto's Roundup herbicide...

East Coast Salad Mix Recall Expands

Posted on January 27, 2011
A Massachusetts company has issued a recall list of more than 90 mixed salad greens and other fresh greens products distributed to retail stores on the East Coast under various brand names.State Garden of Chelsea issued the recall notice after the Rhode Island Department of Health advised consumers earlier this week that a sample of "Northeast Spring Mix" salad at a store in that state had tested positive for Listeria monocytogenes...

Local Food Recall in Hawaii Casts a Wide Net

Posted on January 27, 2011
A contract food bottling and packaging company in Hawaii has been shut down by the state health department, which has ordered a recall of about 100 locally made items, including foods processed at the plant over the past several years.According to KHON2 TV, a number of the small producers caught up in the recall say the health department's list of specialty products made at the First Commercial Kitchen in Waipahu on Oahu is out of date...

Hawaii's Interim Health Director Resigns

Posted on January 27, 2011
Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie has not yet found a permanent state health director, and now he has been tripped up over the interim appointment.Neal Palafox, interim director of the State Department of Health since Dec. 18, resigned Wednesday. He left within hours of DOH's decision to shut down at popular contract food manufacturing center over concerns about potentially inadequate processing and botulism...

Kucinich Sues House Cafeteria for Olive Pit Injury

Posted on January 27, 2011
Former presidential candidate and U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, is suing the U.S. House of Representatives cafeteria for selling him a sandwich wrap in 2008 containing an olive pit that allegedly caused oral injuries. The lawsuit, filed in Superior Court for the District of Columbia earlier this month, seeks $150,000 in damages from the companies that operate the House cafeteria for selling food that was "unfit for human consumption" that Kucinich claims caused "significant pain, suffering and loss of enjoyment...

Study Finds Organic Milk is Healthier

Posted on January 27, 2011
In the latest issue of the Journal of Dairy Science, a new study funded by the European Union compared the fat composition of retail milk produced through conventional methods and milk produced using an organic approach. The findings suggest that organic milk provides greater health benefits to humans than ordinary milk...

Listeria Has Acquired Ability to Attack the Heart

Posted on January 27, 2011
Listeria monocytogenes is already a virulent species of foodborne bacteria most often found in raw milk, soft-ripened cheeses and ready-to-eat cold cuts. It is particularly tenacious and can thrive even under refrigeration.Now researchers say some strains of Listeria monocytogenes appear to have acquired an enhanced ability to invade and infect the heart...

Sprouts and History's Worst E. coli Outbreak

Posted on January 27, 2011
Recent outbreaks linked to fresh sprouts remind us that toxic microbes can sometimes travel in small and seemingly healthful packages.The Japanese need no reminder. They learned the hard way, 15 years ago, when that health-conscious society was gripped by what may be history's worst outbreak of E...

Children's Food Recalled for Possible Listeria

Posted on January 26, 2011
Two gluten-free frozen-food products marketed to children are being recalled because they may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes.Ian's All-Natural and Organic Foods for Kids is recalling its wheat-free, gluten-free brown-rice pasta "Mac and No Cheese" and its wheat-free, gluten-free soy "French Bread Pizza...

Trying to Decide About Raw Milk?

Posted on January 26, 2011
"Back to nature"-- that's what many Americans are trying to do with the foods that they buy and eat. They are shopping at farmers' markets, picking organic foods at their grocery stores, participating in food cooperatives (or co-ops), and some are even growing their own food...

President Obama Gives a Shout Out to Salmon

Posted on January 26, 2011
With a look at the kinds of salmon served on White House menus...Salmon has been featured on the menus for many high-profile White House events hosted by President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, and Tuesday night, during his State of the Union Address, "Winning The Future," the President gave the popular finned food an interesting shout out...

Hagen Outlines Antibiotic Use, STEC Strategies

Posted on January 26, 2011
The Food Safety and Inspection Service will focus on being "one step ahead" of Shiga-toxin producing E. coli (STEC) and antimicrobial-resistant pathogens, Dr. Elisabeth Hagen, Under Secretary for Food Safety at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, told a conference of food safety experts Tuesday...

Marler Says Regulators' E. Coli Approach Is Flawed

Posted on January 26, 2011
At a conference in Washington D.C. Tuesday, food safety attorney Bill Marler told an audience of regulatory, nonprofit, and industry heavyweights that the federal government's approach to E. coli serotypes is flawed."From a public health point of view, the CDC-6 approach is flawed," Marler said...

GOP Plan May Slash Food Safety Funding 42 Percent

Posted on January 26, 2011
A proposal by conservative House Republicans to cut and freeze non-defense discretionary spending from 2012 to 2021 would have a major impact on food safety oversight, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. The House Republican Study Committee (RSC), made up of 165 House Republicans, unveiled their plan to cut spending: across the board cuts of over 40 percent in every sector of the U...

More Evidence of Non-O157 STEC in Ground Beef

Posted on January 25, 2011
Tests conducted on commercial ground beef identified disease-causing E. coli that could be considered significant food safety threats, according to the authors of a new study.Results of these latest tests support earlier studies that have shown the presence of non-O157 Shiga toxin-producing E...

Bravo Farms Resumes Selling Cheese

Posted on January 25, 2011
A California cheese maker whose raw milk Gouda was the source of an E. coli outbreak that sickened 38 people is back in business and says it will now pasteurize its cheese--at least for the time being.Bravo Farms of Traver, CA., a pioneer of artisan-crafted cheese in the state, recalled its inventory in November after health authorities made an epidemiological link between a five-state outbreak of a rare strain of E...

BC Meat Processor Drops Federal Inspection

Posted on January 25, 2011
A meat processor that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency suspected had an E. coli contamination problem last November is opting out of federal inspection entirely and will be regulated only by the Province of British Columbia.Provincially regulated plants are not required to test for the E...

Pasteurization Protects People, Period

Posted on January 25, 2011
I note the ruckus over raw milk. Sorry, but I wouldn't touch raw milk with a 10-foot straw.I wouldn't drink it, I wouldn't eat it as cheese and I wouldn't take a bath in it, either.Nothing personal, but I don't believe claims that pasteurizing milk destroys its nutritional value or that it's a conspiracy of big agribusiness and big government to promote the interests of big pharma...

GAPs a Four-Letter Word? So is 'Safe'

Posted on January 25, 2011
The winter conference for the Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York (NOFA-NY) included a workshop on food safety. Held over the weekend in Saratoga Springs, the 29th annual event was larger than any previous, with registered attendance over 900, and walk-ins anticipated to bring the number well over a thousand...

Whole Foods Supports GE Crop Coexistence

Posted on January 25, 2011
Natural foods giant Whole Foods issued an action alert asking its customers to tell the U.S. Department of Agriculture they support coexistence between genetically-engineered (GE) and non-GE crops.The Austin, Texas-based company--which now has stores in 38 states, the District of Columbia, Canada, and the U...

Food Retailers Unveil Their Own FOP Label Scheme

Posted on January 25, 2011
The retail food industry stepped forward Monday with a new, voluntary front-of-package nutrition labeling scheme. It would put calories, saturated fat, and sodium and total sugars content on the front of all food and beverage packages.The Grocery Manufacturers Association and the Food Marketing Institute said their new "Nutrition Keys" system would help consumers make informed choices...

Farr Replaces DeLauro as Ag Budget Panel's Top Dem

Posted on January 24, 2011
Rep. Sam Farr (D-CA) will replace Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) as the top Democrat on the House subcommittee that oversees both the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and U.S. Department of Agriculture budgets.DeLauro, a longtime advocate for a stronger FDA and federal food safety system, chaired the House Appropriations Committee's Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies since the Democrats took control of Congress in 2006, but announced late last week that she will instead serve as Ranking Member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies...

Wyoming Kills Attempt to Open Raw Milk Loophole

Posted on January 24, 2011
Raw milk advocates were dealt a setback last week when the Wyoming House Agriculture Committee defeated a bill that would have made cow share schemes legal.The vote was 6-3 against the bill, which would have expanded raw milk sales in the Cowboy State...

Listeria Linked to Salad Mix in Rhode Island

Posted on January 24, 2011
The Rhode Island Department of Health has advised consumers that a sample of Northeast Spring Mix salad mix sold at McQuade's Market in Jamestown has tested positive for Listeria monocytogenes.The salad mix, manufactured by Northeast Fresh in Chelsea, Massachusetts, was sold in seven-ounce bags and has a product code of Jan15/457034...

Documentary Explores Dark Side of Pork Industry

Posted on January 24, 2011
A new documentary from the UK points to the vertical integration of the pork industry as the cause of numerous economic, environmental and health woes worldwide. Taxpayers, it says, contribute to this process whether they realize it or not. The film, Pig Business, chronicles the consolidation of pig production from small farms into a handful of large agribusinesses...

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