Contamination of food, beverages, and water includes physical, chemical, and microbiological concerns, as well as allergens (the Big 9, formerly the Big 8).
Chemical contamination of food, beverages, and water include chemicals used in the growing or production of food, such as pesticides or veterinary drugs, as well as chemicals present in sanitizers, cleaning solutions, coatings, and packaging.
Physical contamination of food and beverages encompasses foreign material that makes its way into product at some point during growing, harvesting, storage, manufacturing, processing, or distribution.
Microbiological contamination of food encompasses bacterial pathogens, such as Listeria monocytogenes, Escherichia coli (E.coli), Salmonella, Cronobacter, and many other pathogens that can contaminate food at any point during the supply chain, causing foodborne illness. This category also includes foodborne parasites.
Allergens in food include the Big 9 (formerly the Big 8): milk, eggs, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat (gluten), soybeans, and sesame as of January 2023. Big 9 food allergens and residues in food are grounds for a Class 1 recall.
In a May 16 webinar, a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) official revealed some findings from the agency’s ongoing testing of beef products for viable Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) H5N1 virus.
A study has identified significant deficiencies in existing quantitative risk assessment models for Listeria monocytogenes on produce, such as failure to consider important contamination factors in primary production, among other gaps.
Forward processing of leafy greens crops does not significantly increase the food safety risk posed by Escherichia coli, suggests a recent study led by a USDA Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) scientist and funded by the Center for Produce Safety.
In the second of this two-part episode of Food Safety Matters, we interviewed professionals from the industry, regulatory, and nonprofit sectors, live from the show floor of the Food Safety Summit, which took place on May 6–9 in Rosemont, Illinois. We discussed women in food safety, allergen control, the future of auditing, and more.
The Peanut and Tree Nut Processors Association (PTNPA) Operations and Technical Food Safety Forum will be held June 25–26, 2024; preceded by the PTNPA D.C. Fly-In on May 20–22, 2024.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has awarded $611,000 to University at Albany researchers to develop a rapid, portable, colorimetric Salmonella detection kit for food products.
To investigate the potential impact of more widespread adoption of food irradiation, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) analyzed a decade (2009–2020) of national foodborne illness outbreak data for four significant foodborne pathogens, and found 155 outbreaks linked to irradiation-eligible foods that had not been irradiated.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed to cancel all agricultural uses of the pesticide acephate due to dietary risks from drinking water for currently registered uses of the chemical.
To protect the health of young children, the Baby Food Safety Act of 2024 has been introduced in U.S. Congress to give FDA the authority to enforce scientifically established limits on heavy metals in commercially produced infant and toddler food.
A recent study found high levels of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) among Escherichia coli on raw chicken meat sold at retail in the UK, as well as in chicken-based raw dog food samples—with almost half of samples resistant to critically important antibiotics.
On Demand: From this webinar, attendees will learn how to implement a program to control allergens in food processing facilities and prevent allergen cross-contact.
On Demand: In this webinar, technical experts will explain what a system breach is, how to manage and reduce system breaches, and how to design breaches out of a system to help prevent pathogen contamination in dry and low-moisture environments.