Contamination Control

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Similar to the gut microbiome, foods have a diverse community of indigenous or native microbes that reside on a food product. These microbes are influenced by changes in temperature, salinity, pH, oxygen, and exposure to other organisms, resulting in shifts in the bacterial population proportions. These dynamics can be further influenced by adding new bacteria—or bacteria already present in greater proportions—to help influence and improve food safety and quality. 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA-FSIS) has announced two upcoming public meetings of the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods (NACMCF) and the National Advisory Committee on Meat and Poultry Inspection (NACMPI).

A new guidance document from ILSI Europe on the existing approaches for analyzing Non-Intentionally Added Substances (NIAS) from different food contact materials has been released. 

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a letter reminding developers and manufacturers of new plant varieties intending to transfer genes for proteins that are food allergens into new plant varieties used for food of the relevant legal requirements for such products.

Scientists from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service (USDA's ARS) and North Dakota State University (NDSU) recently found that cattle fed with hempseed cake, an industrial hemp byproduct, retain very low, food-safe levels of cannabinoids in muscle, liver, kidney, and fat tissues.

Following a string of recalls in recent years caused by Ethylene Oxide, the European Commission (EC) has classified Ethylene Oxide as a pesticide and the chemical will be subject to mandatory testing.

Researchers from the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis are developing a vaccine for human norovirus, which is the leading cause of foodborne illness worldwide.

The majority of food allergen recalls are caused by preventable labeling errors, according to a recent analysis of recall data for U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) –regulated products.

Foreign object control is more than just putting a metal detector at the end of the line. Foreign object hazards in foods pose significant public health risks, can lead to costly economic impact, and can directly affect food security and sustainability. Foreign object risk must be identified as part of a HACCP plan for every manufactured food to determine where the most effective control(s) should be implemented for every production run.  

A recent study has added to the growing amount of evidence regarding the global rise of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in foodborne pathogens, finding concerning levels of microbiological contamination and multidrug resistance (MDR) to critical antibiotics among pathogens isolated from pork and poultry meat samples purchased from leading retail outlets in Kenya.