• The political economy of food safety

    Everyone wants safer food, but making food safer costs money; experts say that it is the small mom-and-pops that have not kept up with technology and innovation; these “fringe” suppliers and food processors would likely find the cost of tighter food safety plans, inspections, and mandatory recalls too onerous for doing business

  • Food flavoring widely used in U.S., Canada found to be contaminated with salmonella

    Flavoring agent in a wide range of processed foods, including dips, salad dressings, chips, sauces, hotdogs, soups, and frozen dinners, found to be contaminated with salmonella; agent produced by Las Vegas-based Basic Food Flavors; U.S. and Canadian food authorities consider what measures to take, including recalls

  • Foodborne illness costs U.S. $152 billion annually

    The most comprehensive study of the subject finds that the cumulative cost to Americans of foodborne illnesses is $152 billion annually; the cost per case for an individual is $1,850 on average; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that there are 76 million new cases of food-related illness in the United States every year, resulting in 5,000 deaths and 325,000 hospitalizations

  • U.S.-China farm trade tensions grow

    U.S. companies, steel producers, and unions have filed dozens of domestic trade complaints against Chinese imports; economists say the imports of food based on labor intensive crops are next in line for trade friction between the United States and China

  • Farmers, ranchers urged to be aware of agroterrorism

    South Dakota’s U.S. Attorney Brendan Johnson says all aspects of agriculture can be targets of terrorists, but Johnson said meat production is the most vulnerable; “Livestock are the number one target for terrorists attacking the agriculture system…. If you want to get a bunch of cattle sick at once, it’s not rocket science on how to do it”

  • China finds 170 more tons of tainted milk powder

    Chinese dairies were found to add the industrial chemical melamine, which is high in nitrogen, to watered-down milk to make it appear protein-rich in quality tests that measure nitrogen; many children who drank the milk died or were sickened; rather than destroy the tainted milk, some dairies merely repackaged it

  • Canada's food safety system fails international comparisons

    Canada’s multi-government system with national, provincial, and local governments that share responsibility for health, as well as monitor the safety and quality of food, are key reasons that Canada has a fragmented system with poor focus

  • Raising awareness about the risk of agroterrorism

    A day-long event in California’s Central valley sees farmers, terrorism specialists, and law enforcement officials discuss threat, impacts, and response needs involved in a potential terrorist attack on the area’s thriving agricultural sector

  • Recalled beef in California could be two years old

    An examination of tainted beef sold to restaurants and stores by a California company between 5 and 15 January this year revealed that it was processed nearly two years old; this means that beef already in the freezers of restaurants, hotels, stores, and consumers may be tainted with E. coli

  • Food facilities failing to comply with Bioterrorism Act of 2002

    There are approximately 420,000 domestic and foreign food facilities – not including farms, retail facilities, and restaurants — doing food-related business in the United States; the Bioterrorism Act of 2002 requires these food facilities to register with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and provide information which could be used in the event of a bioemergency (farms, retail facilities, and restaurants are exempt from registration), many have done so yet

  • U.K. government issues a 20-year food-and-farming vision report

    U.K. government recognizes the fragility of U.K. food production, and calls, for the first time since the Second World War, for an integrated food and farming policy; the government says that the U.K. food system, which depends heavily on imports, last-minute ordering, and long distribution chains, which are vulnerable to sudden shocks from global price spikes, disruption to fuel supplies, and the impact of climate change on critical infrastructure, leaves the United Kingdom too vulnerable

  • Food facilities failing to register with FDA

    The Bioterrorism Act of 2002 requires food facilities — exempting farms, retail facilities, and restaurants — to register with the FDA; the FDA had expected about 420,000 domestic and foreign food facilities to register because of the 2002 law; according to an FDA spokesman, as of 14 December, 392,217 facilities had registered — 157,395 in the United States and 234,822 foreign facilities that export to the United States

  • Sathguru’s center launches first global food safety management program

    Indian research center to hold a program of lectures and seminars for executives dealing with different aspects of food safety; directors of the program say that emerging trends in food production, processing, and distribution require augmented food safety protocols and strategies to ensure safe food supply, especially in emerging economies and world.

  • FDA bars Virginia seafood dealer from importing food for 20 years

    In the FDA’s first debarment of food importer, the agency imposed a 20-year penalty on a Virginia businessman who participated in a conspiracy to sell frozen catfish fillets falsely labeled as sole, grouper, flounder, snakehead, channa, and other species of fish to avoid paying federal import tariff

  • Nicholls to get money for seafood research institute

    Nicholls State University in Louisiana will receive funds to launch the Institute for Seafood Studies, which would aid studies of seafood species, coastal restoration and protection, as well as development of local fisheries and industries connected to them; one of the problems the research institute will address is food safety, which one expert said is a top fear among consumers; “This will enable the seafood community, working with the seafood institute, to help allay those concerns,” the expert said