Posts from the "Latest News" category
AU: How the latest food recall affects you
Rachel Clemons / Choice: Seven people have been hospitalised and 14 more are sick with Salmonella poisoning after eating contaminated alfalfa sprouts sold in South Australia.
Check here for details of the food product affected, why it’s being recalled, who’s at risk and what you need to do to stay safe.
Read the full article at choice.com.au
AU: Making sure floors meet HACCP Standard
foodmag.com.au: Putting in place an effective Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) food safety management plan has become a central priority for any facility involved in the production, processing or storage of food and beverage produce.
This preventive risk assessment system ensures that all food safety hazards are assessed and that appropriate controls are put in place to eliminate or reduce contamination.
Read the full article at the Food & Beverage magazine website
UK: ‘Any failure may impact brand reputation, you may not recover’: Study finds food safety ‘not a high priority risk’
Katy Askew / Food Navigator: A new study has concluded that food safety is not always identified as a “priority risk” by food makers.
Read the full article at the Food Navigator website
US: Ensuring the safety of food contact materials: GMPs and beyond
George Misko / Food Safety Magazine: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced in January 2018 that it was exercising enforcement discretion with respect to the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Foreign Supplier Verification Program (FSVP) requirements for importers of food contact substances (FCSs).
The news was met with a sigh of relief by the industry. The reasons for FDA’s decision centered on the vastly different hazard profiles and risks presented between FCSs and traditional food.
Read the full article at the Food Safety Magazine website
US: Outbreaks bring sense of urgency to food safety symposium
Chris Kroger / The Packer: CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The backgrounds of scientists and their areas of focus at the Center for Produce Safety’s ninth annual symposium were certainly diverse, but presentation after presentation laid down a basic message: shared knowledge is critical.
Read the full article at The Packer
UK: What bacteria don’t want you to know about food safety
Dominic Cuthbert / Food and Drink International: Business standards company BSI has published the revised international standard for food safety management.
ISO 22000:2018 Food safety management systems – requirements for any organisation in the food chain provides a framework based on best practice for any organisation, from a small, family-owned farm to a multi-national food service outlet, to implement a comprehensive food safety management system.
Read the full post at fdiforum.net
AU: Can reusable shopping bags make us sick?
Photo: Aaron Warren / flickr.com(CC BY-ND 2.0)
Helen Yuk / mamamia.com.au: The days of flimsy plastic shopping bags floating around the place are over. People all around Australia are going to have to start remembering to bring reusable bags with them when they go to the supermarket – or buy bags once they’re there.
But for years, stories have been circulating about the amount of bacteria found in reusable shopping bags. Is it safe to reuse the same bags for groceries over and over?
Read the full article at mamamia.com.au
AU: Salmonella warning after seven hospital cases linked to alfalfa sprouts
Australian Broadcasting Corporation:Â South Australians are being warned not to eat alfalfa sprouts produced by SA Sprouts after seven people were hospitalised with Salmonella.
Read Article →NZ: HortNZ Food Act Update
HortNZ: The Food Act 2014 and its regulations apply to a range of horticultural growing and post harvest food activities. The only current exceptions are growers who are not selling their produce, and those that sell all of their own product direct to consumers eg. growers who sell all of their product through “gate sales” or personally take their product to a farmers’ market where they sell to consumers.
There is recognition that existing Good Agricultural Practice (GAP) programmes provide an excellent avenue for growers to meet Food Act requirements and discussions are well underway with MPI on how to ensure growers will be able to demonstrate their compliance as part of their standard GAP programme. While the details of exactly how GAP systems can be recognised for the Food Act are still being finalised, it is important that growers understand that options are being developed and details will be available in the near future.
Growers who are not currently covered by a recognised GAP programme will need to ensure their growing practices are safe and they will need to arrange for their own registration and verification. As previously stated, HortNZ recommends growers become certified under a GAP scheme to meet market and Food Act requirements.
What do growers need to do?
Growers are required to apply for registration under the Food Act 2014 by 30 November 2018 in order to be registered for the Food Act by the final deadline of 28 February 2019.
Read the full post in the HortNZ newsletter