An excellent piece authored by Dennis G. Maki, MD. discussing food safety and seeking lessons learned in recent national Salmonella outbreaks was recently brought to my attention.  Dr. Maki’s piece from the March 2009 New England Journal of Medicine looked back over two outbreaks in particular, the 2008 Salmonella Saintpaul outbreak linked to peppers, and

NSF International announced today that Bill Marler is a recipient of a 2010 Food Safety Leadership Award.  NSF is an "independent, not-for-profit organization committed to protecting and improving public health and safety."  Tomorrow, Marler will be presented the annual award for Innovation in Education, at  the Food Safety Summitt in Washington D.C.

NSF created the yearly awards to

The Meat Trade News Daily misses only a couple major food safety issues (i.e. outbreaks) in yesterdays summary of ten major food stories in 2009.  In the blog post, titled "USA – Food Safety a Bloody Disgrace," MTND includes: 

1.  Stephanie Smith’s E. coli O157:H7 and HUS illness from eating a contaminated Cargill ground beef patty.  Stephanie has sued Cargill for

Yes, even wooden shipping pallets.  These days, it seems that nothing is immune from being linked to an outbreak of foodborne disease.  Spinach, lettuce, sprouts, peanut butter, cookie dough, pizza, shellfish . . . everything.  And now, a pharmaceutical recall highlights the potential risks posed by something as seemingly innocuous as wooden shipping pallets. 

This news

High-profile food safety regulators recently explained the need for a national animal identification system, according to this report on Drovers.com. The comments were made at the "ID Info Expo 2009" in Kansas City, Missouri.

Proposals for such a tracking system often draw criticism from the livestock industry, centering around concerns over cost and bureaucracy. Speakers at the