Posts from the "Latest News" category
US: Consumers are more afraid of food
Food Business News: The thrill is gone — that is, for 40% of consumers who reported in a recent survey they no longer enjoy the foods they eat due to safety and quality concerns. Nearly twice as many parents as non-parents shared these fears, said Daymon Worldwide, New York.
Read Article →US: Produce crops are safer 24 hours after rain, irrigation
Food Safety Magazine: New research published in Applied and Environmental Microbiology–a scientific journal–says that produce [spinach] farmers should wait until 24 hours after rain or irrigation to harvest their crops. The practice is said to protect consumers from foodborne illness.
Read Article →AU: Five tips to help your family avoid gastro this winter
Food Safety Information Council: The Food Safety Information Council today released five tips to help consumers avoid the spread of norovirus, a leading cause of gastroenteritis, over the winter months. This follows recent ANU research that found there are an estimated 276,000 cases of norovirus infection on average in Australia each year, leading to 150 hospitalisations and 1 death.
Read Article →US: Television cooking shows lack food safety
Michigan State University: Cooking shows and competitions have become standard fare on television over the past few years. A 2010 Harris Poll showed that eight out of 10 American adults watch cooking shows on television on a regular basis. Unfortunately, when it comes to food safety practices, television cooking shows fall incredibly short, potentially portraying dangerous practices that, if repeated in the home kitchen, could make people sick.
Read Article →UK: Global food contamination data published
Food Safety Watch: According to new data released by the Fera (the UK’s reference laboratory for chemicals in foods) HorizonScan service, Pesticides (13.5%), Salmonella (11.1%) and mycotoxins (7.1%) were the most frequently reported food contaminants globally over the last quarter.
However, taken as a category, it was microbial contaminants that accounted for the highest number of reports (approximately 25%) of food safety, quality and authenticity issues. Listeria, veterinary drugs and non-permitted food colours also featured in the top ten individual food contaminants.
Read Article →NZ: Opposition calls for outright ban on grape imports
Fresh Fruit Portal: New Zealand Labour Party’s biosecurity spokesman Damien O’Connor has called for all grape imports to be blocked, after spiders were found in recent table grape shipments from Mexico.
Since the detections were made, the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) has ordered all Mexican grapes to be withdrawn from retail shelves, and consignments in transit will have to either be fumigated or destroyed.
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NZ: Spider discoveries prompt Mexican table grape withdrawal
Fresh Fruit Portal: New Zealand’s Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI) is working with produce retailers to have Mexican table grapes removed from store shelves, after spiders were found in 10 consignments around the country.
The authorities said the spiders, discovered in several locations on both islands, are not generally considered a serious danger to humans but their effects can be more serious for the very young or for people with a weakened immune system. Importantly, these spiders do not usually bite unless disturbed.
Read Article →AU: $4 billion investment announced in Agriculture White Paper
Food magazine: Biosecurity, international trade and supply chain transparency are some of the priorities of the Agriculture White Paper.
The Agricultural Competitiveness White Paper pledged $200 million funding increase for biosecurity across Australia to improve biosecurity surveillance and analysis nationally, including in northern Australia.
The Agricultural Competitiveness White Paper also provides an additional $12.4 million over four years to modernise Australia’s traceability systems. This will provide even greater assurance that the agricultural goods we send to trading partners can be traced quickly to the point of origin so the source of any disease or residue contamination can be effectively managed.
Read Article →US: Faster listeria tests start hitting the market
Food Safety News: Once food manufacturers begin looking for Listeria more often, it’s only natural that they will begin to look for faster tests. Traditional means of detecting Listeria involve techniques and processes that take several days to complete while waiting for the return of laboratory results.
But new options are emerging. Here are a couple of examples…
Read Article →AU: Pesticide residue report not cause for health safety concern: department of health
ABC Rural: A report on the management of pesticides in Western Australia has found residue on fruit and vegetables grown locally is more than ten times the national average.
An Auditor-General’s report has found residues exceeded acceptable levels on 11 per cent of some WA-grown produce lines tested in some years. The national average is 1 per cent.
“The safety numbers that they are talking about are not an immediate public health safety issue,” said Jim Dodds, environmental health director at the WA Health Department.
He explained that the 11 per cent figure was skewed because the WA survey targeted “high risk” foods.
“We’ve gone in and sampled a totally different group of foods that we knew would have a higher risk of having pesticides on them, so it’s a totally different group so we could help agricultural businesses to get better use of pesticides on their farm.”
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