Posts from the "Topics" category
NZ: New food rules impacting Southland businesses
Stuff.co.nz: Southland councils have implemented audit processes to deal with changes to food safety rules but say there is still some confusion over how the new rules impact businesses. Businesses that serve food are now required to have a Food Control Plan (FCP) under the new Food Act, which came into force in March.
Read Article →AU: New Salmonella warning – mung bean sprouts
SA Health: SA Health has today [19 May 2016] ordered a local mung bean sprout producer Star Tu, to recall all of its products and stop selling immediately after Salmonella Saintpaul was found in packaged bean sprouts.
Read Article →US: Food safety posters for safe handling of leafy greens
Journal of Extension: This article describes food safety educational tools depicting safe handling of leafy greens that are available as downloadable posters to Extension educators and practitioners. Nine visual-based minimal-text colored posters in English, Chinese, and Spanish were developed for use when formally or informally educating foodservice workers about safely handling leafy greens.
Read Article →WHO: 10 facts on food safety
World Health Organisation: The great majority of people will experience a food or water borne disease at some point in their lives. This highlights the importance of making sure the food we eat is not contaminated with potentially harmful bacteria, parasites, viruses, toxins and chemicals.
1. More than 200 diseases are spread through food.
2. Contaminated food can cause long-term health problems.
3. Foodborne diseases affect vulnerable people harder than other groups.
4. There are many opportunities for food contamination to take place
5. Globalization makes food safety more complex and essential.
6. Food safety is multisectoral and multidisciplinary
7. Food contamination also affects the economy and society as a whole.
8. Some harmful bacteria are becoming resistant to drug treatments.
9. Everybody has a role to play in keeping food safe.
10. Consumers must be well informed on food safety practices.
Read the full fact file at the World Health Organisation website
AU: Blanch your bean sprouts or risk Salmonella Saintpaul
foodprocessing.com.au: Mung beans, sourced from Queensland and sprouted in South Australia, are believed to be the source of the latest foodborne disease outbreak that has sickened people across the Northern Territory and South Australia. The recent Northern Territory Department of Health investigation of the increase in Salmonella infections across Darwin, Palmerston and the rural area has established that the bacteria involved is Salmonella Saintpaul — the same one as that sickening South Australians.
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CA: Costco Canada caught up in recall of frozen organic vegetables
Food Safety News: Possible Listeria contamination in organic peas has caused Costco Wholesale Canada Ltd. to issue its second frozen organic food recall in eight days. Organic by Nature brand frozen sweet peas are the implicated food this time, following Costco’s April 15 recall of Nature’s Touch brand organic berry cherry blend. The frozen organic fruit is linked to a Hepatitis A outbreak that has sickened at least 13, according to Canadian health officials.
Read Article →AU: Call for submissions on changes to maximum residue limits requirements
Food Standards Australia New Zealand: Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) today called for submissions on a proposal to create an “all other foods†maximum residue limit for some agricultural chemicals. FSANZ Chief Executive Officer Steve McCutcheon said maximum residue limits are currently set for chemicals and specific commodities. “This has created issues for enforcement agencies and producers because low levels of chemicals permitted on one food may be accidentally found on other foods not listed in the Code,†Mr McCutcheon said.
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US: Study looks at lettuce grown near livestock
The Packer: Lettuce grown too close to livestock production areas can be at greater risk of pathogen contamination. That’s the conclusion of a recent study by scientists at New York’s Clarkson University, “Bioaerosol Deposition to Food Crops near Manure Application: Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment.â€
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AU: FPSC’s first professional development event a resounding success
The first professional development event held by the Fresh Produce Safety Centre (FPSC) in Sydney has passed with flying colours, according to the participants.
The events are designed by FPSC to provide industry with in-depth understanding of specific fresh produce food safety issues.
This first event tackled the complex area of fresh produce chemical and microbial testing, with eight speakers—from grower, wholesale, retail, regulatory and research—identifying the purpose and value of the different types of testing.
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US: Alliance for food and farming slams “Dirty Dozen†list
Fresh Fruit Portal: A U.S. nonprofit representing farmers has criticized the Environmental Working Group’s (EWG) latest “Dirty Dozen” list, which ranks produce items based on pesticide residues and now claims strawberries are the “most contaminated”. In a release, the Alliance for Food and Farming (AFF) highlighted the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Pesticide Data Program said pesticides did not pose a safety concern for U.S. food.
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