Posts from the "Topics" category
AU: Frozen berries still on the shelf after Hep A scare a year ago
Sydney Morning Herald: In the middle of February last year, the frozen berry lost some of its sweetness. Victoria’s Department of Health and Human Services decreed – very publicly – that the popular Nanna’s Frozen Mixed Berry 1kg bag had been linked to multiple cases of hepatitis A.
While Patties Foods is getting out of berries, it’s not out of trouble. Law firm Slater & Gordon remains committed to action they started on behalf of more than 20 clients.
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Save the date: Verification testing workshop at Sydney Markets Plaza
1 March 2016
The area of verification testing is a crucial, yet complex one. The FPSC is running a professional development event, The latest on verification testing – Soil, water, produce and equipment, to address and clarify issues around verification testing.
US: New study will focus on food safety in stone fruit packinghouses
Growing Produce:Made possible by a $100,000 grant from the Center for Produce Safety, Dr. Steven Pao, department chair, and Dr. Erin Dormedy will oversee a one-year study to evaluate and improve sanitizing treatments in stone fruit packinghouses. The study will begin this month and will be conducted in partnership with the California Fresh Fruit Association and area stone fruit producers.
Read Article →US: CDC investigating deadly Listeriosis outbreak linked to various Dole salads
Food Safety News: One person has died and 12 have been hospitalized in a Listeriosis outbreak linked to Dole packaged salads. Officials from [US] CDC announced today they have been investigating the six-state outbreak since September 2015.
“Epidemiologic and laboratory evidence available to date indicate that packaged salads produced at the Dole processing facility in Springfield, Ohio, and sold under various brand names are the likely source of this outbreakâ€
Read Article →AU: Do we really have to wash fruit and vegetables?
The Conversation: There is a growing demand for fruit and vegetables across the Western world, thanks to increased awareness of their nutritional and health benefits. But we’ve always been taught they might not be safe to eat straight out of the supermarket, and they have to be washed first. Is this the case? And what might happen if we don’t?
Read Article →US: Faster checkout with invisible barcodes? New Seasons will give it a try
Oregon Live: Nearly everything on supermarket shelves comes with a barcode. Those black-and-white lines make checkout straightforward and reliably consistent. Not necessarily fast, though. Those tiny barcodes often take a second or two for scanners to locate, even with skilled checkers running them across the scanner.
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US: Bacteriophages: an old antibiotic alternative becomes new again
Food Safety News: The increasing global attention to the threat of antibiotic resistance has spurred research and development of antimicrobial alternatives. Once such alternative is bacteriophages.
Bacteriophages are viruses that infect and kill bacteria. There are thousands of different types and they are so abundant in the environment – an estimated 1030 live on the planet – that “we eat thousands of phages a day,†says Manan Sharma, a research microbiologist with USDA’s Agricultural Research Service.
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US: Trials aim to shed light on wash-water disinfectants for mangoes
Center for Produce Safety: Several studies have been published that examine the interactions among water, disinfectants, organic matter and pathogens with various types of produce in packinghouse wash water. But there’s little, if any, published literature that examines those same interactions in a mango packing facility, said Mary Anne Amalaradjou, DVM, PhD, and an assistant professor of animal science at the University of Connecticut in Storrs.
And that’s what drove her to the project titled, “Impact of wash water disinfectants on Salmonella enterica transfer and survival in mango packing facility water tank operations.”
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NZ: Consumers should take confidence from handling of 1080 criminal blackmail threat
Ministry for Primary Industries: Domestic and international consumers of New Zealand food should take confidence in the way the criminal blackmail threat to contaminate infant and other formula with 1080 was handled, MPI Director-General Martyn Dunne said today.
“What we saw in response to this threat was multiple government agencies working together with dairy companies and retailers with a common purpose – to protect consumers.†Mr Dunne was commenting following the guilty plea in Auckland High Court today to 2 counts of blackmail.
Read Article →AU: Should I throw away food once a fly has landed on it?
The Conversation:Â It only takes a single fly to alight on your picnic lunch to make you uneasy about what germs may have landed with it. But what harm can come from a fly landing on your food? Should you throw it away?
There are hundreds of different fly species in Australia. Many of these flies pose a health risk but none hang about our homes more than the house fly.
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