Contamination Control

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The UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) is advising consumers to limit their consumption of Cannabidiol (CBD) from foods to 10 milligrams (mg) per day for healthy adults, which is significantly reduced from FSA’s previous opinion that 70 mg of CBD per day is safe.

The International Dairy Federation (IDF) recently published a new document to help the dairy industry conduct in-process product sampling that produces accurate and actionable microbiological data. 

Ideal for upstream inspection of bulk items like cereals, rice, legumes, coffee, and sugar, the XR Bulk X-ray scanner from Antares Vision Group incorporates vertical piping technology to reliably inspect raw materials at high speeds.

A recent systematic review has raised concerns with the presence of unregulated harmful mycotoxins in foods, finding a total of 15 unregulated mycotoxins in 38 different combinations across 19 food categories worldwide.

A recent study has provided an overview of the levels and types of microbial contaminants present in 88 different plant-based ingredients used to make dairy alternatives, finding the microbial loads in different ingredients to be highly variable depending on difficult-to-control factors, as well as a high proportion of spore-forming microbes among the total microbial counts in many samples.

The European Commission has set significantly stricter limits for the use of nitrites and nitrates as food additives to reduce consumer exposure to carcinogenic nitrosamines. EU food business operators have two years to adapt to the new limits.

The California Food Safety Act—statewide legislation that bans the sale of foods containing red dye 3, potassium bromate, brominated vegetable oil, and propylparaben—was signed into California law by Governor Gavin Newsom on October 7, 2023.

A recent study conducted by the Japanese National Institute of Health Sciences has filled data gaps about and provided support for the safety of titanium dioxide as a food additive.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has updated its infant formula compliance program, which outlines the agency’s approach to inspections, sample collection, sample analysis, and compliance activities for FDA personnel, with a focus on Cronobacter and Salmonella contamination.

Data have allowed the pork industry to understand risk points in slaughter and processing, as well as the highest-risk products and how Salmonella changes throughout the process. The collective goal is to promote universal food safety knowledge, improve human health, and, thus, contribute to USDA's ambitious target of achieving a 25 percent reduction in salmonellosis cases by 2030.