Bailee Henderson

Nominated by President Trump and confirmed in July, CDC Director Susan Monarez, Ph.D., was fired after scientific clashes with HHS Secretary Kennedy (RFK Jr.) and refusing to dismiss three veteran officials, who also departed CDC shortly after her termination was finalized.

Boar’s Head is reopening its Jarratt, Virginia plant that produced the deli meats behind a fatal listeriosis outbreak in 2024; however, inspections of the facility are being taken over by UDSA-FSIS directly, instead of relying on a state cooperative agreement.

Citing insufficient funding, CDC’s Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network (FoodNet) program has reduced surveillance from eight important foodborne pathogens to just two—Salmonella and Shiga-toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC).

The Australian OzFoodNet network recently published its latest foodborne illness monitoring report, covering the year 2019. Campylobacter caused the greatest number of illnesses, but outbreaks were dominated by Salmonella.

This episode of Food Safety Five discusses two scientific developments that could help address the risk posed by Cronobacter in powdered infant formula: an AI-powered analysis of genetic data for C. sakazakii, providing new insight into why it persists in low-moisture foods, and the development of a promising new assay.

A leaked draft of the second Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Strategy Report has scant new specifics on how the Administration intends to tackle childhood chronic disease, but it outlines an approach that continues to rely on voluntary industry compliance and deregulation for food system reform, which has drawn criticism.

To better understand the characteristics and contributing factors of Salmonella outbreaks linked to fish and fishery products, researchers from FDA and CDC reviewed multistate foodborne illness outbreak investigation records from 2012–2021.

Consumer and regulatory demand for naturally derived alternatives to synthetic food colorants is on the rise. To meet that demand, Cornell University scientists have developed a new blue food dye made of algae protein.

Researchers in China have developed a new onsite rapid test, based in fluorescence RNA-targeted isothermal amplification assay (SAT) technology, that can quickly detect and identify Cronobacter species in powdered infant formula. It offers significantly greater sensitivity and much more rapid results than polymerase chain reaction (PCR), without producing false positives.

Ionophores—a class of antibiotics that are used widely in animal production but are not used in human medicine—may contribute to the development of medically important antimicrobial resistance (AMR), a new study suggests.