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.
A new coalition between various food safety stakeholders has been formed with the purpose of advocating for a modernized, effective Human Foods Program at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Building upon a December 2022 report on the levels of toxic heavy metals in dark chocolate, Consumer Reports recently published new findings about the contaminants in other kinds of chocolates, suggesting that one-third of chocolate products contain high levels of heavy metals.
The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), Consumer Reports, Stop Foodborne Illness, and other food safety advocates have announced their support of a proposal by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA’s FSIS) to declare Salmonella an adulterant in breaded, stuffed, not-ready-to-eat (NRTE) chicken products.
According to new tests by Consumer Reports, although the amounts of lead, arsenic, and cadmium in baby foods appear to be getting lower, the overall risk hasn’t changed much in the last five years.
Advocacy group Consumer Reports (CR) has compiled a list of the ten most high-risk foods, based on recall and foodborne illness outbreak data collected from federal food regulatory agencies.
A group of non-government organizations have recently expressed concerns and raised questions about the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) vision for restructuring its Human Foods Program and Office of Regulatory Affairs (ORA).
