The Plainville Citizen reports that a new government report shows that rates of certain foodborne illnesses, such as infection from E. coli bacteria, are dropping due to better food industry policies. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use caution when it comes to food preparation and storage, especially as the weather gets warmer and people start dining in their backyard or packing picnics. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 76 million people contract foodborne diseases every year, affecting more people than the common cold. But many of the symptoms of food poisoning mimic those of the garden-variety flu, sometimes leaving people to wonder if their symptoms were caused by something they ate or by a virus they picked up another way.
Continue Reading Food Poisoning or Flu?
Food-safety labeling bill advances
The Seattle Times reports that the House approved legislation Wednesday that would standardize food-safety labeling requirements across the country, a move critics said would replace some strong state standards with weaker federal ones.
The vote was endorsed 283-139 and goes to the Senate. Food producers and grocers backed the bill.
The measure would concentrate most food-safety labeling power with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and prohibit states from requiring warnings that differ from those mandated by the federal government.Continue Reading Food-safety labeling bill advances
FDA issues guidelines for fresh-cut produce
The Monterey County Herald reports that the Food and Drug Administration has issued its first set of safety guidelines for the way fresh-cut produce companies process bagged salad, apple slices and cut celery sticks.
The release of the guidelines follows a scathing November letter in which the FDA urged fresh-cut producers to do more to protect consumers from food-borne illness outbreaks. Eight outbreaks have been traced to Salinas Valley lettuce and spinach in the past decade, according to the FDA.Continue Reading FDA issues guidelines for fresh-cut produce
Food warnings
Libby Quaid of the The Associated Press reports that hundreds of warnings on food labels could vanish under a measure moving toward approval in the House.
The bill would stop states from adding warnings that are different from federal rules. States currently add hundreds of extra warnings, indicating the presence of arsenic in water, mercury in fish, alcohol in candy, pesticides in vegetables and more.
“This would be the most sweeping change in decades to our nation’s efforts to protect the food supply,” Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., said Thursday during House debate on the bill.
The food industry wants consistent warnings across state lines to reduce the cost of making many different labels. The industry has attracted broad support in the House, where a majority is co-sponsoring the bill.Continue Reading Food warnings
Bill may undo States’ rules on safe food
Marian Burros of the New York Times reports that the U.S. House is, according to the AP, expected to vote Thursday on a bill that would pre-empt all state food safety regulations that are more stringent than federal standards.
According to the National Uniformity for Food Coalition, whose members include trade associations, supermarket chains and food manufacturers, different laws in different states confuse consumers, stating on its web site that, “The citizens of all states deserve the same level of food safety. Food cannot be safe in one state and unsafe in another.”Continue Reading Bill may undo States’ rules on safe food