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Michigan and Ohio recently updated their case counts in a massive Cyclospora cayetanensis outbreak, bringing state-reported totals for all 50 states to at least 21,775 cases. Michigan also reported two deaths tied to the outbreak.

Food safety begins in the field, the barn, and the watershed, not at the processing plant. The concept of preharvest biosurveillance—the systematic, continuous monitoring and management of biological threats before harvest—is now central to building safer and more resilient food systems. 

Science and decision-making rarely operate on the same timeline. While scientists continue evaluating new evidence, people across the food system are making decisions based on the best information available at that moment. This creates a natural tension, as the ongoing Cyclospora outbreak investigation has demonstrated

Ten Latin American countries are developing national initiatives to strengthen food safety systems by integrating risk analysis into public policy and regulatory decision-making, through a regional project led by UN organizations and assisted by the University of Minnesota.

Going beyond the “ultra-processed foods” debate, the proposal, submitted by observer organization IFT, asks Codex to develop a framework to discern which foods are promoting chronic disease risk from those that are not, building upon existing Codex food categories and risk analysis methods.

The UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) attributed the increase to growing food systems complexity driven by global supply chains, cross-border distribution, and online marketplaces.

Democratic Ranking Member Rep. Robert Garcia cited media reports about alleged private meetings between Taylor Farms and White House and FDA officials, the company’s donations to Trump PACs ahead of the Food Traceability Rule delay, and its “contradictory and confusing” public statements about the cyclosporiasis outbreak.

Organized by a team from Wageningen University and Research, the inaugural AI for Food Safety Conference (AIFS) is set to take place on April 8–9, 2027 in Ede, the Netherlands.

UKHSA said the relatively stable number of STEC notifications in 2025 marked a departure from the steady annual increases observed since 2021, when larger outbreaks contributed substantially to case counts.

Following the global infant formula recall linked to cereulide contamination, Elena Medo discusses vulnerabilities in infant formula supply chains, infant-specific food safety risks, surveillance gaps, donor milk safety, and the lessons regulators and manufacturers can take away from this unprecedented event.