Bailee Henderson

Recently signed into law, California Assembly Bill 660 standardizes the use of “Best if Used By” and “Use By” dates on food labels, and prohibits the use of “Sell By” and other, inconsistently used dates. 

Boar’s Head has appointed Frank Yiannas, former FDA Deputy Commissioner of Food Policy and Response, as its interim Chief Food Safety and Quality Assurance Officer (CFSO) and Chair of its Food Safety Advisory Council. Both the CFSO role and advisory council are new additions to Boar’s Head’s structure, established in response to the fatal listeriosis outbreak of 2024.

UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) surveillance of food purchased at retail in 2023–2024 found 87 percent of samples to be compliant with food safety and authenticity standards. Undeclared allergens, adulteration, mislabeling, and other noncompliances were reported.

Published in CDC’s Emerging Infectious Diseases, one of the largest-ever whole genome sequencing (WGS) analyses of Campylobacter in Africa found antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in 75 percent of human and poultry isolates from Tanzania and Kenya.

The European Commission’s annual report on EU Member States’ official food safety controls in 2022 highlighted successes, areas for improvement, and challenges.

Members of Congress have written a letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) asking the agency to answer questions about its inspection actions leading up to the fatal Boar’s Head listeriosis outbreak, and about its authorities and processes for preventing such events.

In response to a FOIA petition submitted to USDA by the Associated Press, the agency chose to withhold the requested Boar’s Head inspection and enforcement reports on the grounds that they were being compiled for law enforcement purposes related to the recent listeriosis outbreak.

In a September 25 public meeting and supplementary document, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) outlined its developing enhanced, systematic process for the post-market assessment of chemicals in food. The proposed process is open for public comment until December 6.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro’s Toxic Free Food Act would require the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to overhaul the “generally recognized as safe” (GRAS) process, calling it a “loophole” that allows substances to secretly enter the food supply without adequate safety review.

Baby food producer Little Spoon is the first U.S. company in the sector to promise to never sell product that exceeds EU-aligned limits for toxic heavy metals, pesticides, and plasticizers, and to voluntarily publicize its product testing results.