Food supply chain safety

G8 leaders address food security
In last week’s meeting in Italy, leaders of the G8 pledged $15 billion over the next three years to increase food security in developing countries by investing in food production and distribution infrastructure
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Humans may infect pigs with swine flu
Researchers find that the strain of influenza, A/H1N1, which is currently pandemic in humans has been shown to be infectious to pigs and to spread rapidly in a trial pig population
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Minnesota company recalls two years of food products
Plainview Milk Products Cooperative is recalling two years of food products — instant non-fat dried milk, whey protein, fruit stabilizers, and gums— due to possible salmonella contamination
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Chatham creates School of Sustainability and the Environment
Two trends — globalization and the centralization of food production — have pushed food safety issues to the fore; Chatham University launches a new degree program designed to provide students with “a deep understanding of the issues surrounding food such as the environmental costs of food production and distribution, cultural issues, sustainability of communities, and safety of the food supply”
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New security measures on passenger planes may hurt cherries growers
About a quarter of the cherries grown in Washington state — some 1.3 million 20-pound boxes — are flown in the cargo hull of passenger planes to Pacific Rim countries like Japan and Korea; growers of highly perishable crops like cherries worry that a new requirement that all cargo on U.S. passenger flights undergo a security scan could create lengthy delays, leaving crops to rot in hangars as they await inspection
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Food poisoning outbreaks prompt oversight efforts, II
President Obama had an organic vegetable garden planted at the White House, and his nominees to the FDA are pushing a more aggressive approach to food safety; many are are pinning their hopes on the Food Safety Modernization Act, which would essentially split the FDA, creating a separate agency to focus on food safety
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Food poisoning outbreaks prompt oversight efforts, I
In 1973, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) employed 35,000 inspectors; in 2007, the FDA employed 6,700 inspectors; at the same time, food imports into the U.S. increased exponentially
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Researchers find ways to reduce cattle flatulence
University of Alberta researchers developed a formula to reduce methane gas in cattle
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Schneier: no need to worry about terrorists poisoning food
Security maven Bruce Schneier says that fears of food-based bioterrorism are exaggerated: The quantities involved for mass poisonings are too great, the nature of the food supply too vast, and the details of any plot too complicated and unpredictable to be a real threat
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Aussie company improves food pasteurizing
Normally processors would have to use preservatives or heat the product and this inevitably changes the taste and destroys some nutrients; new method — called high-pressure processing (HPP) — uses pressure instead
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Calls for ranking the riskiest food products
In the last two years the United States has been rocked by food poisoning and contamination scares; the sheer number of products that need to be inspected, and the relatively small number of inspectors, lead experts to call for ranking products according to the risk they pose
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New biosensor for most serious form of Listeria food poisoning bacteria
Biolermakers researchers develop a biosensor using so-called heat shock proteins — which the body produces in response to stress — instead of the antibodies used in other tests
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U.S. food poisoning cases held steady in 2008
CDC says in a new report that United States did not suffer more food poisoning last year despite high-profile outbreaks involving peppers, peanut butter, and other foods
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California pistachio growers worry about big losses from FDA recall
California produces 96 percent of the U.S. pistachios; the entire $540 million-a-year industry is under threat as a result of FDA’s pistachios recall last week
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Food safety standards must be shown to add to companies' bottom line
TraceGains says its supply-chain solutions help companies turn disparate data into actionable business and value chain intelligence — turning traceability from a cost center into a profit center
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