ByHeart-commissioned research shows the currently accepted “gold standard” for Clostridium botulinum detection in powdered formula, SRC enumeration, may fail to catch contamination. It is used by many formula brands, including Nara Organics, another company linked to an infant botulism outbreak. Following this finding, third-party IEH Labs developed a novel detection method.
Only six deaths were reported in 2024. The majority (nine) of the 12 fatalities in 2025 were included in one E. coli outbreak linked to ground beef served at long-term care facilities nationwide.
For a time, ByHeart Nutrition and Nara Organics both used Organic West milk dried by Dairy Farmers of America in their infant formula products (confirmed by Food Fix). Both brands have been implicated in botulism outbreaks that occurred within months of each other.
Between 2015 and 2024, the German Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL) and the Robert Koch Institute investigated 3,021 foodborne illness outbreaks.
Based on the findings, researchers recommended targeted food safety messaging for older adults that raises awareness of age-related susceptibility to foodborne illness and the potential severity of infection, and acknowledges the effects of health, financial, and environmental realities on food safety practices.
Overuse or misuse of antimicrobials and improper disposal of antimicrobials in the agri-food system may result in food and environmental contamination and contribute to the global rise of AMR.
The Paraquat Prevention Act would cancel all EPA-registered uses of the herbicide and permanently prohibit its reregistration. More than 70 countries, including the EU and China, have banned the domestic use of paraquat, although China still manufactures and exports the chemical to the U.S.
New ByHeart-commissioned research suggests that sulfite-reducing clostridia (SRC) enumeration, the “gold-standard” test for C. botulinum in powdered infant formula, which was used by Nara Organics prior to the ongoing outbreak, is insufficient. Experts who spoke to Food Safety Magazine agree C. botulinum should be considered as a foreseeable hazard requiring specific preventive controls.
Wageningen University researchers developed a hybrid machine learning modeling framework that considers crop growth stages, various future scenarios, and a large geographic region. The model predicted deoxynivalenol will present the greatest risk, with coastal countries, the UK, and northern France most affected.
The 2018 Farm Bill legalized the sale of hemp-derived products containing no more than 0.3 percent delta-9 THC, allowing a “legal” edibles and beverage market to emerge. The 2025 government shutdown reconciliation bill closed this “loophole,” effective in November.
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