Food Safety News, an emerging online leader covering food issues, announced today the launch of its newly revamped website http://www.foodsafetynews.com. The redesign is the latest in a string of many made to highlight original reporting of food issues and provide an enhanced experience for users. For the first time it will also feature limited space for organizations interested in promoting their food safety related products, services or events.
“We see Food Safety News as becoming the go-to news source on food safety issues,” said site publisher Bill Marler. “We’ve already invested heavily in quality writing and coverage. With the redesign we’ve improved the interface through which people access that news and information.”
In the past year food safety has reemerged as a front-page issue, with topics like the record Germany-based E. coli outbreak and the passage of the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act making headlines in mainstream media.
Simultaneously, several major news publications, including the Washington Post and Des Moines Register, have cut or reassigned their food safety and agriculture reporters, making Food Safety News all the more valuable.
“The press is one of the most important tools of a healthy democracy and food issues are no exception,” added Marler. “They are not going away but there seems to be a growing void in reporting by top tier journalists – a void we’re hoping to fill with quality coverage.”
In 2011, Food Safety News has contracted with multiple freelance journalists to write investigative and opinion pieces and has beefed up its staff to cover day-today subjects. It was “first on the ground” for American outlets covering the German E. coli O104:H4 outbreak, and maintains bureaus in Seattle, Washington D.C., and Denver. Over 100,000 Internet users read Food Safety News monthly.
With over 30 years of experience, Managing Editor Mary Rothschild leads the news site, which has also welcomed the high profile additions of Pulitzer Prize winning writers Andrew Schneider and Ross Anderson. Helena Bottemiller, who this year appeared on BBC World, maintains the Washington D.C. bureau. Dan Flynn is a Denver based writer and editor with more than ten years of food safety experience. Gretchen Goetz works out of Seattle and was the first American journalist in Germany to cover the 2011 European E. coli outbreak. Cookson Beecher, an experienced agricultural and environmental journalist, provides freelance pieces. Also featured are opinions and editorials by top food issue experts such as Michele Simon, Dr. Richard Raymond, and Barb Kowalcyk. To learn more about Food Safety News staff and contributors visit http://www.foodsafetynews.com/about-us/.