In this episode of Food Safety Matters, we talk to two industry experts from Fresh Express—John Gurrisi, Vice President of Food Safety and Quality, and German Rios, Senior Director of Food Safety and Quality—about the company’s rigorous approach to food safety at all stages of production. Specifically, John and German discuss Fresh Express’ high standards for growers, its tech-enabled traceability system, and how the company has refined its food safety approach over time, among other topics.

A recent study has raised alarm bells regarding the levels of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in U.S. freshwater fish, with findings suggesting that consuming a single serving of fish could have the same effect as drinking heavily PFAS-contaminated water for a month.

Virginia Tech researchers in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences are examining how fresh pears change during storage, and how such knowledge can be used to keep food safety risks low over time.

Aged meat does not carry greater food safety risks than fresh meat when aging is done correctly, according to a new scientific opinion adopted by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) that focuses on the microbiological food safety risks of aged meat in comparison to fresh meat and provides recommendations for safe production.

Consumer groups are calling for the use of erythrosine—also known as red dye 3—in foods to be banned, pointing to studies suggesting the food coloring’s carcinogenicity and children’s heightened exposure to the coloring.

Researchers at the University of Georgia’s College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences are researching a sunlight-based method for controlling microbial contaminants—specifically, Salmonella and Escherichia coli—in irrigation water used for food crops. After enough research is conducted, the UGA team hopes to create an app that will help growers enhance food safety.

A pervasive trend exists to take larger and more frequent samples to address microbial contamination. This trend has touched almonds and is expected to hit other nut products, which can be considered for aggregated sampling as a solution.

As the intended enforcement discretion period for the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Agricultural Water Proposed Rule will come to an end on January 26, 2022, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has released a fact sheet to help prepare growers.

Following the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) premarket approval of a cultured chicken meat product from UPSIDE Foods (also known as “cell-based” or “lab-grown” meat), U.S. and Chinese food safety regulatory officials conferred in an online event on the global adoption of cultivated meat and other innovative foods.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service (USDA’s AMS) has found the majority of fruits and vegetables in the U.S. to contain pesticide residues below the tolerances established by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), according to the agency’s Pesticide Data Program (PDP) summary for 2021.