On July 7, Trump nominee Judge Stephen Vaden was sworn in as the Deputy Secretary of USDA. He previously served as General Counsel to USDA and on the U.S Court of International Trade during President Trump’s first term.
As of July 1, 2025, new EU maximum levels for nickel—a heavy metal known to contaminate food, which can have acute and chronic health effects—went into effect for a range of foods. Additional limits for nickel in cereal will go into effect in July 2026.
A study suggests that some food matrices (i.e., smoked fish and soft cheese) significantly increase the ability of Listeria monocytogenes to adapt, survive digestion, and cause infection. Based on the findings, modulating the fat and protein content in food could be one potential way to reduce L. monocytogenes risk.
Louisiana recently enacted Senate Bill 14, which HHS Secretary Kennedy called a “Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) bill,” targeting more than 40 food ingredients—such as seed oils, food colorings, sweeteners, and other additives—through product label disclosures and public school meal bans.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA-FSIS) has announced Dr. Justin Ransom as its new Administrator. The previous Administrator, Dr. Denise Eblen, who served in the role in December 2024, will remain in the Office of the Administrator as Deputy Administrator.
FDA recently published a final guidance for industry to describe and answer questions about FDA’s use of remote regulatory assessments (RRAs) to oversee and assure compliance of FDA-regulated products, outside of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Reflecting on 20 years of research, scientists from the University of Pretoria and the Water Research Commission in South Africa are calling for better national water quality standards, as well as regular surveillance and testing of water sources and produce, to address contaminated irrigation water and improve produce safety.
Preliminary figures from Food Safety Australia New Zealand’s (FSANZ’s) 2025 foodborne illness economic burden estimate suggest that foodborne illness costs the Australian economy approximately $3 billion AUD each year, up from the $2.81 billion estimated in 2023.
The UK Food Standards Agency has established a safe upper limit for THC consumed in hemp-derived CBD foods and beverages of 0.07 milligrams per day, and is encouraging businesses to reformulate CBD products in light of the new THC recommendations.
A survey of produce growers found that seven percent of respondents do not implement food safety risk reduction practices on their farms, reporting time and money to be the biggest challenges. Larger operations and farms subject to third-party audits were more likely to adopt risk reduction practices.
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