A recent Joint Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)/World Health Organization (WHO) Expert Consultation on Risks and Benefits of Fish Consumption has concluded that, while the nutritional and health value of eating fish is undeniable, more research is required about the toxic effects of exposure to methylmercury and dioxins from consuming fish.
After finding that more than a third of water courses in England and Wales contain medium- to high-risk levels of per- and polyflouralkyl substances (PFAS), the Royal Society of Chemistry is calling upon the UK Government to enact stricter drinking water standards for the “forever chemicals.”
In an October 19 invite-only media roundtable and written statement, James (Jim) Jones, the first Deputy Commissioner for Human Foods at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), revealed his priorities for forging a new, unified Human Foods Program. Significantly, amid the wave of state legislators aiming to ban possibly harmful food additives, Jones stated his intent to more closely address the issue, beginning with brominated vegetable oil.
According to recent research from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), infections caused by Salmonella with antimicrobial resistance (AMR) only to clinically important antibiotics were not associated with poorer outcomes, suggesting that factors other than treatment failure may be important.
Compressed air is a risk in food processing facilities that can cause microbial contamination of food products, leading to possible foodborne illnesses, costly recalls, and failed audits.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA’s FSIS) has published its annual plan for fiscal year (FY) 2024, which acts as a guide for the agency’s efforts to prevent foodborne illnesses associated with FSIS-regulated products, transform inspections, and achieve operational excellence.
A recent systematic review has raised concerns with the presence of unregulated harmful mycotoxins in foods, finding a total of 15 unregulated mycotoxins in 38 different combinations across 19 food categories worldwide.
A recent study has provided an overview of the levels and types of microbial contaminants present in 88 different plant-based ingredients used to make dairy alternatives, finding the microbial loads in different ingredients to be highly variable depending on difficult-to-control factors, as well as a high proportion of spore-forming microbes among the total microbial counts in many samples.
Whether or not a country’s food businesses have largely achieved certification against food safety standards is the second most important predictor of instances of foodborne illness, according to a recent study.
The California Food Safety Act—statewide legislation that bans the sale of foods containing red dye 3, potassium bromate, brominated vegetable oil, and propylparaben—was signed into California law by Governor Gavin Newsom on October 7, 2023.
