Latest News From Food safety

The Consumer Goods Forum, a global group of retailers and marketers that created the Global Food Safety Initiative, has a new initiative to create a benchmark for sustainability audits.

Small growers can find new markets by implementing food safety practices, a new study from Cornell University reveals.

Promotora Agricola El Toro, a grower, packer and shipper with nearly 10,000 acres in Baja California, Mexico, has earned Equitable Food Initiative certification.

As expected, the Food and Drug Administration’s New Era of Smarter Food Safety leans heavily on technology, particularly in traceability and outbreak responses.

The Food and Drug Administration has set a goal of restarting on-site inspection of FDA-regulated facilities the week of July 20.

Food safety and contract sanitation provider PSSI, Keller Wis., has promoted Ben Busch to vice president of information technology.

The Food and Drug Administration is releasing details of its New Era of Smarter Food Safety Blueprint.

Cases of cyclospora infection linked to Fresh Express salads continue to rise, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Canada is reporting its first cases.

A Windsor-Essex County, Canada, health official used an Ontario statute to order a farm to take workers off the job and self-isolate after at least 191 of them at a greenhouse tested positive for COVID-19.

The United Fresh Produce Association is presenting a web seminar concerning foodborne illness outbreaks.

Scott Mathews is the new CEO of iFoodDecisionSciences, and Diane Wetherington has been appointed executive chairwoman of the board.

Eurofins Scientific and QFresh Lab have a cooperative agreement to provide a full-service solution for food safety testing and shelf life quality for fresh-cut produce and salad kits.

The Food and Drug Administration has issued a second notice to the importance of food safety measures to the Mexican papaya industry.

(UPDATED/CORRECTED) Cyclospora infections linked to Fresh Express garden salads continue to rise and now include Walmart private-label bagged salads, including salad served at a North Dakota restaurant.

The Produce Traceability Initiative has added/upgrade four tools for the industry to support traceability implementation.

The inability to hold the Center for Produce Safety’s annual Symposium in its traditional form has opened up new opportunities for greater participation, says Bonnie Fernandez-Fenaroli, executive director of CPS.

Helping to preserve food safety and quality, monitoring devices connected to the internet of things (IoT) are giving produce operators more visibility into their supply chains compared with a decade ago.

Though the new coronavirus COVID-19 is not a food safety issue, responding to the crisis has pulled in produce safety professionals in a variety of ways.

The clock is ticking for the Food and Drug Administration’s determination of “high-risk” foods and what traceability/record-keeping standard those foods should meet.

Clear Labs has received the International Association for Food Protection’s 2020 Food Safety Innovation Award.

Hy-Vee, Aldi and Jewel-Osco have recalled private label garden salads supplied by Fresh Express after they were linked to an outbreak of cyclospora, with cases rapidly increasing.

More than 235 employees of Dole’s salad processing plant in Springfield, Ohio, tested positive for COVID-19.

The California Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement has a new subcommittee that focuses on how land adjacent to leafy greens fields might contribute to foodborne illness outbreaks from romaine lettuce.

Salad greens have a soiled reputation because of foodborne illness outbreaks the last few years.

Fresh Express has recalled Southwest Chopped Salads Kits from 11 states because of allergens that are not identified on list of ingredients.

Online training for papaya grown in Mexico is available through courses on the Food Safety Best Practices Guide for the Growing and Handling of Mexican Papaya.

Federal and state agencies are investigating a six-state outbreak of cyclospora illnesses with 76 cases linked to garden salad from Aldi, Hy-Vee and Jewel-Osco stores.

The inability to hold the Center for Produce Safety’s annual CPS Research Symposium in its traditional form has opened up new opportunities for greater participation, says Bonnie Fernandez-Fenaroli, executive director.

The Packer and Farm Journal are presenting two free web seminars on technology and how it can solve problems from traceability to food waste and supply chain visibility.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency will be requiring that leafy greens from Arizona must be from a grower involved in the state’s Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement to be imported into Canada.

The Packer’s Tom Karst visited June 9 with Scott Horsfall, CEO of the California Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement about the group’s food safety efforts.

Western Growers, Irvine, Calif., has hired De Ann Davis as senior vice president of science.

Bee Sweet Citrus has introduced a wash line to ensure fruit is free of the Asian citrus psyllid, which spread huanglongbing, aka HLB.

A trial with GS1 US and four traceability solution providers has shown that multiple traceability systems can interoperate, exchanging information on a product’s supply chain journey in the food system.

An outbreak of Listeria monocytogenes linked to enoki mushrooms that spanned more than three years and led to four deaths appears to be over, according to the Food and Drug Administraton.

Procurant, Los Gatos, Calif., has a new cloud-based traceability service.

The Produce Marketing Association has a new online produce safety course, the first offering in its FreshEd Academy educational platform.

The California Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement has a new subcommittee that focuses on how land adjacent to leafy greens fields might contribute to foodborne illness outbreaks from romaine lettuce.

The Food and Drug Administration is extending the comment period for the third installment of the draft guidance on Mitigation Strategies to Protect Food Against Intentional Adulteration.

The Food and Drug Administration is giving smaller farms flexibility on remaining exempt from the Produce Safety Rule even if they shift sales to new buyers.

Both conventional and organic farming employ finished compost to enhance tilth and provide slow-release fertilizer for crops. However, compost can also pose a risk to the food safety of fresh produce.

The Food and Drug Administration is extending the application period for the Voluntary Qualified Importer Program.

The Canadian Produce Marketing Association has partnered with NSF Canada to offer online food safety, regulatory and quality assurance workshops in June.

Leafy green growers are pledging to follow recommendations that the Food and Drug Administration recently outlined in a report on E. coli outbreaks in romaine and other leafy Greens in 2019.

A Food and Drug Administration report on three E. coli outbreaks in the fall of 2019 says cattle operations near leafy greens fields is the most likely source of the pathogens.

Award-winning microbiologist Channah Rock is in the business of keeping our food safe. Fortunately for us, she loves her job.

A web seminar on new growing and handling best practices for Mexican papayas will answer questions from the industry about the document outlining the procedures.

As food safety audits of leafy greens continue during the pandemic, California Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement members have access to new tools streamlining the audit data.

COVID-19 has had a profound effect on the economy of Florida, nearly stopping tourism and related industry in its tracks since mid-March.

Misionero, Gonzales, Calif., has received Equitable Food Initiative certification for its processing facility in Gonzales.