Posts from the "Latest News" category
US: Guilty verdict puts food safety responsibility where it belongs
Food Safety News: Guilty! The perpetrator of the 2008-09 Salmonella outbreak, Stewart Parnell of the Peanut Corporation of America, just received a 28-year sentence for knowingly distributing Salmonella-containing peanuts. The familiar refrain will be that this is evidence that our food safety system is broken. But those who believe that the response in 2010, the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), is the answer have it completely wrong. In fact, the results of this court case provide a strong incentive for everyone involved in food safety, from farms to restaurants, to exercise due diligence.
Read Article →US: Arizona woman is third victim of widespread Salmonella outbreak
Reuters: An Arizona woman has died after eating Salmonella-tainted cucumbers grown in Mexico, marking the third fatality from the widespread outbreak, health officials said on Friday.
The woman in her late 50s, who suffered from serious underlying health problems, died on Sept. 4 at a Tucson, Arizona-area hospital, said Pima County Health Department spokesman Aaron Pacheco.
Read Article →![Orange [soap] Drop Andre Roberto Doreto santos https://flic.kr/p/8xTSN2 CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/](https://fpsc-anz.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/4955430333_7dfef0a1a4_b.jpg)
AU: Antibacterial soap no better than regular soap
FoodProcessing.com.au: They dominate our supermarket shelves and encourage our germophobe tendencies. But scientists in Korea have now discovered that using antibacterial soap when hand-washing is no more effective than using plain soap.
The study, published in the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, examined the effect of triclosan (the most commonly used active antiseptic ingredient used in soap) on bacteria in two ways.
Read Article →CN: China beefs up Food Safety Law
Xinhua News: China is preparing a tougher Food Safety Law to come into effect on Oct. 1, said a senior official with China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) on Tuesday.
In April, the Standing Committee of China’s National People’s Congress (NPC), the country’s top legislature, adopted an amendment to the 2009 Food Safety Law with the heaviest civil, administrative and criminal penalties yet for offenders and their supervisors.
Read Article →AU: Did you know? (busting the food safety myths) announced as the theme of Australian Food Safety Week 2015
Food Safety Information Council: The theme for this year’s Australian Food Safety Week, to be held 8 to 15 November 2015, will be ‘Did you know?’ (busting the food safety myths).
“There are a lot of myths out there about what causes food poisoning, so during the Week we will be releasing the latest consumer research about what Australians understand about food safety plus some simple tips to help people reduce their risk of getting sick.”
Read Article →US: What’s on the minds of food and beverage company executives?
Food Safety Magazine: According to a recent survey, food and beverage executives are concerned about the potential effect of product recalls on their company’s reputation. More than 40 percent indicated product quality was a major risk and 45 percent indicated maintaining product recall capabilities is a priority for them.
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US: PMA response to FDA release of final FSMA preventive control rules
Produce Marketing Association: After more than four years of development, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released the final Preventive Controls for Human and Animal Food rules, components of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA).
… We will do a more detailed examination of the Preventive Controls for Human Food rule in the coming weeks, though there are a few key elements that have surfaced that we want to draw your attention to.
Read Article →NZ: New tools to measure sustainability
NZ Herald: Consumers and retailers are increasingly demanding more information about the broader impacts of the food they purchase, including a wider range of issues such as food safety, environmental impact, human ethics and overall sustainability.
… to help further meet these demands, the New Zealand Sustainability Dashboard (NZSD) team has been working since 2012 to develop a sustainability assessment tool that will help New Zealand farmers and growers measure their sustainability outcomes and performance.
Read Article →NZ: Online tool helps food businesses understand new regulations
New Zealand Government: Food Safety Minister Jo Goodhew launched an online tool today that will help food businesses discover how they will be affected by the new Food Act 2014, which comes into force in March next year.
“We’ve created this online tool so that anyone providing or selling food can easily find out how the new food safety rules apply to them.â€
Read Article →US: The FDA takes important steps in modernizing the food safety system
US Food and Drug Administration: The US FDA today took one of the most significant steps in decades to prevent foodborne illness by finalizing the first two of seven major rules under the bipartisan FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA).
Today’s action is the first step in putting greater emphasis on the prevention of foodborne illness, holding imported food to the same food safety standard as domestically produced food, and developing a nationally integrated food safety system in partnership with state and local authorities.
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