The 2023 annual report highlights a few noteworthy outbreaks: illnesses linked to toxins from morel mushrooms, lead linked to cinnamon in applesauce pouches, and Listeria monocytogenes linked to soft serve ice cream cups.
A survey of Swedish toddlers conducted by the Swedish Food Agency as part of the Riksmaten Young Children dietary study has found high levels of some toxic substances—such as PFAS, BPA, and lead—in the children’s bodies.
This episode of Food Safety Five discusses a recent report showing that FDA has not met its mandated food inspection targets since 2018. Also covered are FDA’s new action levels for lead in foods for babies and children, and the success of Canadian regulations to control Salmonella in raw, frozen and breaded chicken products.
FDA issued a new final guidance for industry on the action levels for lead in processed food intended for babies and young children. Action levels are levels of a contaminant at which the agency may consider a food to be adulterated.
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.
Senator Cory Booker’s Safe School Meals Act proposes widespread reforms that would reduce the presence of toxic heavy metals, pesticides, artificial food dyes, and chemicals in school lunches, and would mandate research to progress remediation methods for environmental contaminants polluting farms.
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.
A new study has revealed how leafy greens like spinach absorb various toxic metals differently and offers strategies to reduce uptake, highlighting practical solutions for farmers, food processors, and consumers.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a warning letter to the manufacturer of the apple cinnamon fruit puree pouches that gave hundreds of children across the U.S. lead poisoning in late 2023.
A recent, 8-year-long analysis of U.S. dark chocolate and cocoa products revealed a significant portion of samples to contain cadmium and lead levels exceeding California Proposition 65 maximum allowable limits, although concentrations of toxic heavy metals were seen to reduce over time.
