Two key advisory committees, responsible for providing impartial scientific advice to federal public health agencies (USDA, FDA, CDC) relative to food safety, have been terminated: the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods (NACMCF) and National Advisory Committee on Meat and Poultry Inspection (NACMPI).
Major public health, food industry, and consumer protection groups have stated concerns about the recent mass firing of FDA Human Foods Program staff and the resignation of Deputy Commissioner Jim Jones, expressing that layoffs could jeopardize food safety and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) agenda.
In response to USDA-FSIS’s proposed regulatory framework for Salmonella in raw poultry products, Consumer Reports has called the agency’s suggested enforceable standards “too lax,” and suggests specific changes, such as including S. Infantis as a serotype of public health concern.
After consumer groups petitioned the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to remove Lunchables from the National School Lunch Program due to toxic contaminants in September 2024, Kraft Heinz, the makers of Lunchables, voluntarily decided to pull its meal kits from the program.
Consumer Reports has delivered a petition to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) urging the agency to ban red dye 3 in foods, and are cautioning the public about certain Halloween candies containing the colorant.
Consumer Reports and More Union have petitioned the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to remove Lunchables food kits from the National School Food Lunch Program due to what the groups perceive as relatively high levels of lead and cadmium, as well as the presence of phthalates.
After a recent sampling project, Consumer Reports is calling attention to concerning levels of perchlorate in foods, especially those intended for babies and children. Perchlorate is a chemical used in rocket fuel, some plastics, and other products. Exposure to the chemical can harm the thyroid.
Based on an analysis of seven years of data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA's) Pesticide Data Program, watchdog group Consumer Reports is warning that it found pesticide residues to pose “significant risks” in 20 percent of foods analyzed.
In this episode of Food Safety Matters, we are joined by Brian Ronholm, Director of Food Policy for Consumer Reports, who lends his insight as a consumer advocate and former regulator to a discussion around food regulatory policy and food safety legislation. We dissect a variety of current events in food safety, such as toxic heavy metals in baby foods and food additives legislation, from multiple perspectives, including industry, consumer, regulatory, and consumer advocate.
Recent testing for phthalates and bisphenols like BPA in foods found all but one sample to contain phthalates and 79 percent of samples to contain bisphenols. Phthalates were present at worryingly high levels, although levels of bisphenols have decreased since 2009. The study was conducted by Consumer Reports.
