@Risk

In an effort to safeguard the food supply and prevent foodborne illness, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced last week that six additional serogroups of pathogenic E. coli will be declared adulterants in non-intact raw beef.

Current regulations ban the sale of ground beef containing E. coli O157:H7, a virulent strain of bacteria that has caused death, illnesses and the recall of millions of pounds of ground beef and other products.

But, as a result this new action, the USDA will also ban the sale of ground beef containing any of a half-dozen additional E. coli strains –which are known as the “Big Six non-057s” and which can also cause severe illness and death.

“The impact of foodborne illness on a family can be devastating,” said Under Secretary Elisabeth Hagen. “Consumers deserve a modernized food safety system that focuses on prevention and protects them and their families from emerging threats. As non-O157 STEC bacteria have emerged and evolved, so too must our regulatory policies to protect the public health and ensure the safety of our food supply.”

The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) will begin testing for these six serogroups of STEC and enforcing the new policy on March 5, 2012.

Not everyone supports these new regulations.

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The Food Safety Modernization Act, which was signed into law in January, requires the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to establish at least two pilot projects: one involving produce and one involving processed foods.

Last week, the FDA announced that two pilot projects are underway.  These pilots, designed to enable both the agency and the food industry to better trace products responsible for foodborne illness outbreaks, will evaluate methods and technologies for rapid and effective tracing of foods, including:

• types of data that are useful for tracing,

• ways to connect the various points in the supply chain and

• how quickly the data is made available to the FDA.

Key stakeholder groups from industry, government and consumers will have input into the pilots, and the FDA also will make efforts to include those representing the food supply chain – from farms to restaurants and grocery stores.

After completing the pilots and gathering additional data, the agency will begin rulemaking on recordkeeping requirements for high-risk foods to facilitate tracing. Step one will be to define high-risk foods, considering such factors as: (more…)

The US Department of Agriculture has proposed a new requirement for the meat and poultry industry, and the agency says this new rule will significantly reduce serious recalls for meat and poultry products.

Currently, when USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) collects a sample for testing, the sampled products are requested –but not required –to be held until test results are known. With the proposed requirement, FSIS would be able to hold products from commerce until its test results for harmful substances are received.

FSIS inspects billions of pounds of meat, poultry and processed egg products each year, and it estimates that 44 of the most serious recalls between 2007 and 2009 could have been prevented if this additional safeguard had been in place.

“There is no more fundamental function of government than keeping its people safe from harm, and today we are taking another proactive approach to further prevent consumers from falling victim to foodborne illness,” Under Secretary for Food Safety Dr. Elisabeth Hagen, said. “We believe this will result in fewer products with dangerous pathogens reaching store shelves and dinner tables. In addition, by testing and holding at US points-of-entry, FSIS will also strengthen safety efforts focused on imported food – offering an additional safeguard to American consumers.”

President Obama’s Food Safety Working Group (FSWG) developed three core principles to help guide food safety in the United States: (more…)

Do business interests interfere with the work of Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Department of Agriculture (USDA) employees who are involved with food safety?

Unfortunately, the answer to that question is too often “yes,” according to new research by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS).

In survey results released earlier this month, the UCS revealed that hundreds of FDA and USDA employees feel undue corporate influence is a major problem affecting the nation’s food safety. Among more than 1,700 respondents who took part in the survey, (more…)

Federal officials now estimate that as many as half a billion salmonella-tainted eggs have been circulating in the US food supply over the past few months. Hundreds, if not thousands, of people have been sickened with salmonella linked to the contaminated eggs, prompting three recalls over the past two weeks –the third was issued last Friday.

A small handful of egg farms in Iowa appear to be at the center of the outbreak. Two of these farms are operated by Hillandale Farms of Iowa, one of the largest egg companies in the US; Wright County Egg Farm operates the other five. These farms share several common suppliers, including those for chicks and feed. According to the AP, this supplier has a history of violations and controversy. (more…)