Tag: food safety

Major food organizations, including the International Fresh Produce Association and Western Growers, have written to an independent expert panel reviewing the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

There are unique challenges associated with the oversight of imported food. Global food supply chains are complex, with varying food safety systems and differing regulatory oversight among the more than 200 countries and territories exporting food to the U.S.

Investigators could not confirm romaine lettuce as the source of this outbreak. This is partly because the Wendy’s meals eaten by sick people had many similar ingredients. Additionally, there were no laboratory or traceback data that could confirm romaine lettuce as the source.

Now the agency is detailing how the 2019 strategy for safeguarding imported food applies specifically to imported produce in the Activities for the Safety of Imported Produce.

Today’s bombshell, in bureaucratese: “None of the postharvest interventions intended for the treatment of whole produce immediately after harvest (e.g. washes, post-processing chemical and physical treatments) reliably deliver significant reductions in human pathogens.”

The International Federation for Produce Standards has announced today that it is holding its inaugural virtual global sustainability symposium on 10 November, 11am to 2:30pm Eastern Standard Time.

The Alliance for Food and Farming (AFF) hosted its fifth Safe Fruits and Veggies Farm Tour for registered dietitians, health and nutrition writers and influencers on September 12, 13 and 14 featuring crops in the San Joaquin Valley of California.

Produce Alliance, LLC, announced today a reaffirmation of its commitment to remain at the forefront of food safety innovation and unmatched protection for its customers, distributors and grower/shipper partners, in elevating its longtime leader of Food Safety, Barbara Hulick, to Vice President of Food Safety.

The CDC has still not confirmed the source of the outbreak. As of September 1, there are 97 illnesses, 43 hospitalizations and zero deaths. The states involved are Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. 

Timothy D. Lytton, a professor of law at Georgia State University School of Law and author of Outbreak: Foodborne Illness and the Struggle for Food Safety, has delved into the role of insurers in enforcing safety standards in produce operations. He believes that insurers play a key role in food safety.