The final Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Report was unveiled in a September 9 press conference led by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Food safety, consumer, and environmental stakeholder groups criticize the report’s deregulatory approach and lack of enforceable actions.
This episode of Food Safety Five discusses two scientific developments that could help address the risk posed by Cronobacter in powdered infant formula: an AI-powered analysis of genetic data for C. sakazakii, providing new insight into why it persists in low-moisture foods, and the development of a promising new assay.
Researchers in China have developed a new onsite rapid test, based in fluorescence RNA-targeted isothermal amplification assay (SAT) technology, that can quickly detect and identify Cronobacter species in powdered infant formula. It offers significantly greater sensitivity and much more rapid results than polymerase chain reaction (PCR), without producing false positives.
A recent analysis of French milk and infant formulas has revealed the presence of titanium dioxide—which is banned as a food additive in the EU due to potential toxicity—in all human and animal milk samples, as well as in most infant formula samples. Researchers raise concerns about implications for infant health, and question routes of exposure leading to contamination.
Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) has approved Arla Foods Ingredients’ application for the use of its milk fat globule membrane (MFGM) as a nutritive ingredient in infant formula products.
Using an artificial intelligence (AI) model to standardize and analyze a massive, global set of whole genome sequencing (WGS) data for Cronobacter sakazakii, University of Maryland researchers have discovered genetic traits that may explain the pathogen’s persistence and virulence in low-moisture foods like powdered infant formula.
FDA has outlined a list of actions it intends to take to improve the timeliness and transparency of food product recalls. The agency specifically called on the infant formula and baby food industry to cooperate in “creating a collaborative transformation in how we manage and communicate food recalls.”
Chinese lawmakers are reviewing a draft amendment to the Food Safety Law addressing key food safety issues and regulatory oversight of the country's food industry.
The fiscal 2026 budget request from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services touches on infant formula, ultra-processed foods, and other HHS priorities that Food Safety Magazine has reported on.
Traditionally, food safety laboratories have performed separate tests for each pathogen, which boosts costs and delays results. Hygiena’s Salmonella plus Cronobacter Detection LyoKit eliminates this inefficiency by detecting both pathogens in a single test.
