Food supply chain safety

Items in FEMA food kits may contain salmonella-tainted peanut butter
Food kits FEMA distributed to thousands of storm evacuees in Kentucky may contain peanut butter contaminated with salmonella
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U.S. lawmakers want tighter food inspection system
The list of recalled peanut products in the .S. surpassed 1,000 in an ongoing national salmonella outbreak; the 2007 recall of melamine-tainted pet food eventually grew to 1,179 products; Congress says current system of food inspection is not working
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Cloned meat, milk may have already entered U.S. food supply
The FDA admits that meat and milk from the offspring of cloned mammals such as cows, pigs, goats, and sheep could very well have already entered the food supply in the United States
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Mercury Found in High Fructose Corn Syrup
The ingestion of mercury can have serious health consequences; too bad the high concentrations of mercury were found in fructose corn syrup, the ingredient that has replaced sugar in many American staples
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The global consequence of a regional nuclear war
The world should be worried about a regional nuclear war between India and Pakistan because the consequences of such a war will be anything but regional; scientists say that one billion people may starve to death around the world, and hundreds of millions more will die from disease and conflicts over food
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Honey laundering: Tainted, mislabeled honey makes it to store shelves
Two-thirds of the honey Americans consume is imported; almost half of that comes from China; Chinese honey often contains chloramphenicol or other antibiotics which are illegal in any food; Chinese producers, government mislabel honey jars to mislead consumers
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USDA's IG warns about flood of genetically modified crops
Experts expect the number of genetically modified crops and traits, and the number of countries producing them, to double by 2015, raising the risks of imports of GM crops unknown to the USDA; worry centers on countries such as China, India, and Brazil where health and safety standards are more lax
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Kansas wins $450 million biolab
Kansas State University outlasted four other competitors to win the $450 million DHS National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility
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FDA opens offices in China
As food — and food ingredients — imports from China grow, and as China’s lax health and safety standards become more apparent, the FDA is trying to spot problems at the source by opening three offices in China
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Biosafety Lab-Level 4 dedicated in Galveston, Texas
The $174 million, 186,267-square-foot lab will employ 300 people; the lab is one of two approved in 2003 by NIH (the second is being built in Boston); critics question placing a BSL-4 lab on a barrier island vulnerable to hurricanes
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China has a history of tainted milk
The recent crisis of melamine-laced milk in China is but the latest in problem-plagued dairy industry; China’s small-scale dairy farmers — and there many of them — are hard to police, and relatively few have the capital and know-how to adhere to good dairy-farming practices
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Briefly noted
Global CCTV market analysis 2008-12… U.S. intelligence agencies spend $47.5 billion in 2008… Changing role for DHS in cyber security… Auditors: Private security in Iraq cost over $6 billion… China begins investigation of tainted eggs
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CBP adds food specialists to inspect imports
Worries about imported food, and about animal disease and the invasion of lakes and rivers by foreign species, increase; Border Protection adds food specialists for better point-of-entry inspection
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Briefly noted
Online “passports” to make Chinese foods safer… Top U.K. prosecutor warns against growing state power… France may buy Reaper UAVs
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U Kentucky researchers demonstrate milk transportation safety system
Wildcats researchers develop a milk tracking system which will dramatically improve the safety of bulk milk transport
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