Food supply chain safety

New food fraud database launched
DHS defines food fraud as the deliberate substitution, addition, tampering, or misrepresentation of food, food ingredients, or food packaging, or false or misleading statements made about a product for economic gain; a new database compiles thousands of food fraud reports; the most fraud-prone foods: olive oil, milk, and honey
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Beef Industry Safety Summit notes successes, challenges
The U.S. beef industry says that beef is increasingly safe and that consumers have more confidence in beef safety, but challenges remain
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Developing crop for livestock in dry climates
Scientists at the University of Liverpool are working with international partners to develop new forage crop for the hot and dry climate of regions such as Pakistan and Saudi Arabia
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Earth's crust is slowly being destroyed
New research shows that the Earth’s crust is now undergoing high rates of destruction; the research shows the sharp decrease in the growth of the continental crust indicates a dramatic change in the way the Earth has generated and preserved this crust in the last 4.5 billion years
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Firefly technology sheds new light
A new device, employing the same chemical which lights up fireflies, can easily detect food contamination; the researchers who developed the system hope it will soon be used to test for other diseases, including HIV-AIDS
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Confirmed: oil from Deepwater Horizon disaster entered food chain
For months, crude oil gushed into the water at a rate of approximately 53,000 barrels per day; new study confirms that not only did oil affect the ecosystem in the Gulf during the blowout, but it was still entering the food web after the well was capped
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Antibiotic-resistant bacteria proliferate in agricultural soils
Infectious diseases kill roughly thirteen million people worldwide, annually, a toll that continues to rise, aided and abetted by resistance genes. Now a study finds reservoirs of resistance in agricultural soils
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New antibiotic to make food safer, cows healthier
Chemists discovered a molecule very similar to the antibiotic nisin, found naturally in milk and added to food for decades to fight pathogenic bacteria; the new molecule, geobacillin, is more stable than nisin, which could make it more effective
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Radiation-laced Japanese seafood detected in South Korea
The effects of the Japanese nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daichii atomic energy plant are continuing to ripple across the world
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CDC: outbreaks linked to imported foods increasing
U.S. food imports grew from $41 billion in 1998 to $78 billion in 2007; as much as 85 percent of the seafood eaten in the United States is imported, and depending on the time of the year, up to 60 percent of fresh produce is imported; the increase in imported food has been accompanied by an increase in foodborne illnesses, with fish and spices the most common sources
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New wheat strain could ease food shortages
Researchers in Australia have developed a new strain of salt-tolerant wheat that could help minimize food shortages
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CDC study finds raw milk is most likely source of dairy outbreaks
A new study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) finds thatraw milk is 150 times more likely to be the cause offood-borne illnesses than pasteurized milk; a growing number of states have permitted the sale of raw milk
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Universal Detection developing smartphone radiation scanner for food
In the wake of Japan’s nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi atomic energy plant, concerns over contaminated food supplies have swept the nation, sparking Universal Detection Technology to develop a smartphone radiation detector specifically designed for comestibles
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Cell phone-based sensor detects E. coli
Researchers have developed a new cell phone-based fluorescent imaging and sensing platform that can detect the presence of the bacterium Escherichia coli in food and water
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New app to help fight nonnative species invasion of U.S.
Nonnative species invading the United States — animals, pathogens, and plants — deplete water supplies, poison wildlife and livestock, and damage property in urban and rural areas at a cost of about $138 billion annually; the U.S. Forest Service funded the development of an iPhone application that helps people identify harmful, non-native plants
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