Microbiological Control

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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced two new food safety prevention strategies intended to help prevent outbreaks of foodborne salmonellosis and listeriosis associated with imported enoki and wood ear mushrooms, and salmonellosis associated with bulb onions.

In this episode of Food Safety Matters, we talk with Michael (Mike) R. Taylor about the regulatory changes that have occurred since the Jack in the Box E. coli outbreak of 1992–1993. He served as Administrator of UDSA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) during a time of great transformation within the agency, and is currently a board member for Stop Foodborne Illness. Mike talks about how his previous work at FDA informed his work at USDA; what it was like to negotiate with industry on new Salmonella and E. coli standards, as well as HACCP regulations; the evolution of food safety culture and the concept of taking accountability for prevention; and the personal impact of the stories of foodborne illness outbreak victims.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and World Health Organization (WHO) have released findings from recent Joint Expert Meetings on Microbial Risk Assessment (JERMA) sessions on the prevention and control of microbiological hazards in fresh fruits and vegetables.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Agricultural Research Service has discovered 33 new species of mycotoxin-producing fungi belonging to the genus Fusarium.

The U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has completed a research study that evaluated Food Code recommendations for reducing the risk of norovirus in foodservice establishments.

The LmRNA project will explore the genetic and physiological responses of Listeria monocytogenes biofilms to dairy environment conditions to support the development of improved strategies for preventing antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

Recent studies have found that microplastics and nanoplastics move upward through the food chain and land in the human gut, and have also demonstrated the ability of the particles to encourage biofilm formation, harbor pathogens, and affect microbial growth in ways that may affect human health.

A recent study has identified eggs as the most common source of salmonellosis in Europe, where Salmonella is the leading cause of foodborne illness outbreaks.

A recent study is one of the first to explore the interactions between rotavirus, hepatitis A, and norovirus with biofilms comprising spoilage bacteria and lactic acid bacteria on plastic, stainless steel, and glass surfaces.

A recent study evaluated four commercial disinfectants that are listed by EPA as being "active" against human norovirus. The study found that three of the disinfectants did not work well against the virus. The fourth, however, was found to be very effective at killing norovirus.