Regulatory

RSS

According to the National Environmental Health Association (NEHA), adoption of the most recent version of the FDA Food Code is increasing across the country at a record rate, reflecting a prioritization toward food safety.

In a February 17 resignation letter, James (Jim) Jones, FDA Deputy Commissioner for Human Foods, stated that 89 “indiscriminate” firings in the Human Foods Program, including layoffs of employees with “highly technical expertise in nutrition, infant formula, food safety response,” would render his job to protect food safety “fruitless.”

Changes are coming to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) with the recent confirmation of President Trump's nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (RFK Jr.) as Secretary, amid talks of major workforce reductions at HHS agencies including FDA and CDC.

President Trump's nominee Brooke Rollins, J.D. was confirmed as the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture on February 13, 2025. She will oversee USDA, and has alluded to an “aggressive plan” to “eliminate positions that are no longer necessary” at the agency.

Predictive models help inform decision-making, and can also serve as documentation toward customers, regulators, and third-party auditors. This article examines DMRI Predict, a collection of predictive models that can be used to assess food safety and spoilage (both microbiological and sensory) of meat and meat products.

Based on survey responses from food processors, part 2 of this column series explores industry perspectives on USDA's changing regulatory approach to Salmonella in raw poultry products and how it may affect processors' operations. The article also delves into processors' top priorities for their food safety programs in 2025. 

This article examines the health risks of PFAS migration from food packaging, and how food and beverage companies can go about phasing out their use to comply with U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations and state laws.

Which comes first: generating standard operating procedures (SOPs) to drive improvements in quality and food safety behavior, or improving behaviors and then generating the appropriate SOPs? Does the SQF/GFSI process drive the first approach or the second? The answer to both questions is: yes.

A partisan House bill sponsored by U.S. Representatives Tracey Mann (R-KS) and Steve Womack (R-AK) aims to block USDA from using federal funds to implement its proposed regulatory framework for Salmonella in raw poultry products, the goal of which is to reduce foodborne salmonellosis cases.

A recent study has characterized the challenges of ensuring food safety in “dark kitchens”—which sell food for takeout or delivery solely via online platforms and may operate out of shared kitchens—from the perspectives of both environmental health officers and the business operators themselves.