In this episode of Food Safety Matters, we discuss the top food safety stories of 2024 and their implications, including high-profile foodborne illness outbreaks, the ongoing avian flu outbreak in poultry and dairy cattle, FDA’s Human Foods Program restructuring, rising concerns and evolving legislation around food additives and chemical contaminants, and other topics.
USDA is soliciting nominations for 30 new appointees to the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods (NACMCF), who will be tasked with reviewing USDA-FSIS’ regulatory approach for Listeria, among other charges.
In this bonus episode of Food Safety Matters, we speak to two MilliporeSigma food safety regulatory experts about the significance of Escherichia coli and Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) to food safety, as well as the importance of testing and the advanced testing solutions available for E. coli/STEC.
Boar’s Head has responded to a letter from 22 members of Congress probing the company about the recent, fatal listeriosis outbreak linked to its products. Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), who signed the letter, called Boar’s Head’s response “not credible” and “a classic corporate dodge.”
The European Commission has updated its list of food imports from certain countries that are subjected to temporarily increased official controls due to contamination risk.
The FAO/WHO Joint Expert Meeting on Microbiological Risk Assessment (JEMRA) has published a report ranking the most important foodborne viruses and virus-food commodity pairings.
California has declared a state of emergency as the current outbreak of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza H5N1 (HPAI H5N1) continues to sweep North American dairy herds.
FDA has declared the outbreak of Escherichia coli infections linked to Grimmway Farms carrots to be over. Although the outbreak strain of E. coli did not match the Shiga toxin-producing E. coli strain found in environmental samples, traceback evidence implicates the recalled carrots as the vehicle of illness.
Following the high-profile, fatal listeriosis outbreak linked to Boar’s Head ready-to-eat (RTE) deli meats that prompted an internal review of USDA-FSIS processes, the agency has announced several new steps to strengthen its oversight of RTE facilities, including expanded Listeria rule requirements and stricter state-federal cooperative inspection agreements.
Filling a critical knowledge gap in light of recent outbreaks and recalls associated with low-moisture foods, a study led by National University of Singapore researchers has characterized dry surface Salmonella biofilms and developed a fit-for-purpose, antibiofilm, waterless sanitization protocol for the low-moisture food industry.
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