Monthly Archives December 2016

New compliance date for meat, poultry labeling is 01/01/2020

Any new meat and poultry product labeling regulations that are issued next year by USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) will have a uniform compliance date of Jan. 1, 2020. FSIS has periodically set a uniform compliance date at some point in the future for its food labeling requirements. Previously on Dec. 14, 2004,... Continue Reading Read More

Followup tests begin Jan. 13 at poultry plants failing standards

Poultry processing plants that do not meet Salmonella control performance standards will have to conduct new follow-up sampling procedures beginning early next year, according to a notice from the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS). In a Dec. 16 notice, FSIS announced the new follow-up protocol for testing, referred to as sampling by the government, will... Continue Reading Read More

Researchers discover how foodborne pathogen triggers GBS

Public health officials have known for some time that Guillain-Barre Syndrome could be triggered by the foodborne Campylobacter jejuni, but a research team at Michigan State University only recently discovered how the pathogen commonly found in undercooked chicken leads to the paralyzing neuromuscular disorder. Funded by the federal government’s National Institutes of Health Enterics Research... Continue Reading Read More

The Top 10 most important foodborne outbreaks of 2016

The Top 10 most important outbreaks of 2016, according to the editors of Food Safety News, are presented here. Outbreaks were chosen for the list on a subjective basis, ranked by the number of fatalities and then the number of illnesses for outbreaks involving more than a single state. The 2016 Top 10 outbreaks include... Continue Reading Read More

Publisher’s Platform: Listeria Kills – Especially the Elderly

The European Food Safety Authority issued a report last week that European experts have noted an increasing trend in Europe of listeriosis since 2008, but they highlight that the number of affected people stabilized from 2014 to 2015. Infections were mostly reported in people over 64 years of age. Listeriosis affected about 2,200 people in... Continue Reading Read More

Undercooked ready-to-eat chicken used in several other products

Ready-to-eat chicken from National Steak and Poultry that was recalled for undercooking is being used in products produced by other companies, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) disclosed late Friday. In a statement, FSIS said it does not have confidence in the safety of any subsequently produced products that have used... Continue Reading Read More