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The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), Consumer Reports, Stop Foodborne Illness, and other food safety advocates have announced their support of a proposal by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA’s FSIS) to declare Salmonella an adulterant in breaded, stuffed, not-ready-to-eat (NRTE) chicken products.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA’s FSIS) recently posted its fiscal year (FY) 2024 Public Health Regulations (PHR) report. The FY 2024 PHRs and their thresholds will go into effect October 2023.

The UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) has issued a new voluntary guidance for industry on glycerol in slush-ice drinks, advising that they should not be sold to children four years of age and under.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a direct final rule finalizing the agency’s prior determination that the use of partially hydrogenated oils (PHOs) in foods is no longer Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS).

In this episode of Food Safety Matters, we are joined by an FDA official, a county-level environmental health regulator, and a retail food industry association representative to discuss the research and application of behavioral science with food employees and regulatory agencies to reduce foodborne illness risk factors at smaller retail foodservice businesses. 

Salmonella spp. have long been associated with low-moisture foods such as nuts and nut-derived products, with varying prevalence observed in tree nuts, including cashews, at retail. Virtually all cashews are imported to the U.S. Some nuts, including cashews, are imported as a "raw" product (i.e., one that has not been subjected to a process to adequately reduce pathogens, such as a kill step). Salmonella contamination of such products has resulted in several notable outbreaks in the U.S. in the past ten years, including those in which cashew-containing products have been implicated as a vehicle. This article presents a brief overview of outbreak investigations of Salmonella infections linked to the consumption of cashews and cashew-containing food products. It also presents challenges encountered, lessons learned, and relevant regulatory requirements for importers and manufacturers of cashews and cashew-containing products.

This article discusses the consumer and regulatory drivers of the current focus on heavy metals in foods for babies and young children, and also explores the congressional investigation and FDA's subsequent Closer to Zero effort. It also discusses the latest developments and what moves can be expected next from FDA. 

The National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System (NARMS) recently published its 2020 Integrated Summary, which includes data providing phenotypic and genomic antimicrobial resistance (AMR) trends for Salmonella, Campylobacter, generic Escherichia coli, and Enterococcus isolated from retail meat and food-producing animals.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will host a free, hybrid public listening session on recall modernization on September 29, 2023. The listening session will provide an opportunity for stakeholders to share information and feedback about topics related to recall modernization for FDA-regulated products.

With a draft legislation recently introduced to the European Commission, Italy is seeking to prohibit the production and marketing of cell-based meat, as well as the sale of plant-based proteins labeled as meat.