Posts from the "Latest News" category


US: Listeria finding prompts recall of apples from Michigan grower

Food Safety News: A Michigan grower is urging consumers to check apples in their homes and immediately discard them if their packaging has specific codes that identify apples recalled today because of possible Listeria monocytogenes contamination.
Read the full article at the Food Safety News website

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NZ: Horticulture NZ Food Act update

Horticulture New Zealand: Horticulture New Zealand and MPI are making steady progress on the recognition of the GAP schemes for Food Act verification, which will mean that meeting Food Act requirements will be seamless for GAP approved growers. MPI has recently acknowledged that the NZGAP Scheme, checklist and auditors meet the Food Act requirements under National Programme level 1 and are currently looking at the acceptance of other GAP schemes and checklists used by growers (e.g. GLOBALG.A.P.). This will mean that your next GAP audit will also count as a Food Act audit, reducing compliance costs for growers.
Horticulture New Zealand is also working with MPI on coordinating Food Act registration for your horticulture business. In the New Year, we will have a more robust Food Act update while the detail of the roll out is worked through between industry and MPI, so there is no action required from growers at this stage.
Read the full update in the Horticulture New Zealand e-newsletter

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AU: Salmonella poisoning warning

Sydney Morning Herald: Health authorities are warning people to take precautions to prevent Salmonella poisonings, with 201 cases already reported in late November as temperatures start to climb. A total of 1391 salmonellosis cases were reported in NSW last summer.
Read the full article at the Sydney Morning Herald website

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EU: Salmonella cases no longer falling

European Food Safety Authority: Cases of Salmonella Enteritidis acquired in the EU have increased in humans by 3% since 2014 says the report, which is compiled by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). In laying hens, the prevalence increased from 0.7% to 1.21% over the same period.

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UK: IBM, Walmart & JD use blockchain to target food safety in China

Food & Drink International: Not content with its earlier blockchain announcement, computer giant IBM has joined forces with Walmart, JD.com and Tsinghua University National Engineering Laboratory for E-Commerce Technologies in a Blockchain Food Safety Alliance. The consortium will kick off with a collaboration designed to enhance food tracking, traceability and safety in China, to achieve greater transparency across the food supply chain.
Read the full article at the Food & Drink International website

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CA: One dead; E. coli outbreak linked to romaine lettuce spreading

Food Safety News: One person is dead, two more provinces are reporting illnesses and nine more people are confirmed sick, but no one has recalled any products, named any brands, or identified any retailers who sold fresh romaine lettuce that is implicated in an E. coli outbreak in Canada.
Read the full article a the Food Safety News website

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CN: Canada E. coli outbreak linked to lettuce

Health Canada: The Public Health Agency of Canada is collaborating with provincial public health partners, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and Health Canada to investigate an outbreak…

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US: UA Project tackles challenge of making safer melons

University of Arizona: With funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, researchers will develop new disinfectants, grow new breeds of melons, and educate farmers, retailers and consumers on safe melon production practices. The University of Arizona is receiving $610,000 in grant money from the Specialty Crops Research Initiative, or SCRI, a program operated by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, to fund a four-year project that aims to develop safer and healthier cantaloupes.
Read the full article at uanews.arizona.edu

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US: Swabbing for actionable results

Quality Assurance & Food Safety Magazine: Typically, the COAs would arrive around 4:30 a.m. With the anticipation of the smart phone notifying me that I’ve received an email, that anxious question of “What are the results?” would begin circling in my mind […] I scroll through the reports looking for that dreaded word “Presumptive.” […]
Read the full article at qualityassurancemag.com

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AU: Blockchain beefs up security against food fraud

Cosmos magazine: A new cryptocurrency-based project aims to provide certainty in the beef supply chain. Ever wonder exactly where that delicious steak on your plate came from? Well, now you can find out —thanks to a new food research project called BeefLedger […]
Read the full article at cosmosmagazine.com

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