State and local health departments in Washington are investigating five cases of foodborne illness caused by Listeria monocytogenes in Western Washington, three of which have resulted in death. Whole genome sequencing (WGS) has indicated a common source of infection.
To highlight the economic burden of the emergence and transmission of antimicrobial-resistant (AMR) foodborne pathogens, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) recently released a publication on the topic that also suggests actions and policies countries can consider.
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) recently updated its list of qualified presumption of safety (QPS) -recommended microbiological agents intentionally added to food or feed. QPS is a regularly updated generic pre-valuation of the safety of microorganisms based on an assessment of published data for each agent.
A recent UK-based report from the Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI) warns that the lack of a legal definition for vegan food is potentially putting people with allergies at risk, as well as causing confusion for consumers and businesses.
A recent study exploring the use of a digital technologies for retail food safety inspections in the EU has revealed existing opportunities to improve inspection consistency through digitalization, as well as the barriers that exist to adopting a digital environment.
A recent study conducted by researchers from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign concluded that, when sampling powdered infant formula for Cronobacter contamination, sampling with stratification may be more powerful than random sampling, and that taking more samples, even if smaller, increases the ability to detect contamination.
In support of FDA's Closer to Zero initiative, researchers have conducted a risk assessment that estimates the U.S. population’s dietary exposure to cadmium. The study found children aged 6–24 months and 24–60 months to be the populations most highly exposed to cadmium, with concerning levels of exposure when compared to guidelines set by regulatory agencies.
The Joint Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)/World Health Organization (WHO) Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) has published the summary of its findings on the food safety aspartame and 15 other flavorings, which was discussed at the 96th meeting of JECFA that took place in Geneva, Switzerland from June 27–July 6, 2023.
Through a voluntary pilot program, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) found four major third-party industry auditing standards for food safety to be in alignment with both the Preventive Controls for Human Foods Rule and the Produce Safety Rule, which are FDA regulations that were issued as part of Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) implementation.
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