The Press Democrat out of Santa Rosa, California, reported today that California will introduce new food safety rules on July 1, 2007. The rules, which have been in the making for ten years, will improve current food codes regarding the following:
In an article titled, "Better Safe Than Sorry" for US News and World Report, nancy Shute highlighted food safety efforts being made by a Washington farmer, and focused on what consumers can do in their own homes to protect themselves from foodborne illness.
Andrew Stout’s farm in Carnation, Wash., is one of the most successful small organic farms in the country. Each week, Full Circle Farm delivers fresh lettuce, green peas, spring garlic, and spinach to 17 farmers’ markets in the Seattle area, as well as to dozens of restaurants and retailers, including Whole Foods Market. Some 2,400 boxes of produce a week go out to families who have bought a share in the farm’s riches. His customers are counting on getting freshness and taste-and also on Stout’s care when it comes to hygiene. "Bacteria exists everywhere," he says. So he keeps the manure pile away from the packing shed, tests the water used to irrigate and wash vegetables, and keeps an eye on his workers to be sure they wash their hands. "I’m a food provider," he says. "You want to do the absolute best that you can."
US News followed up the article with a list of foodborne illness outbreaks beginning in 1971.
Meanwhile, CBS 3 out of Philadelphia ran a story with a focus on home food safety, emphasizing the importance of washing fruits and vegetables before eating them, or even cutting into them – as in the case of cantaloupe and other melons. Below is some of their food safety advice:
"It’s really important to wash fruits and vegetables of all kinds before you cut into them even if you’re not going to eat the rind. This cantaloupe grew pretty close to the ground so it could have picked up bacteria from the soil that could be on the surface. As you pull a knife though it, you’re going to drag bacteria that’s on the outside, in to the inside if you haven’t washed it off first," said Sharon Franke from The Good Housekeeping Institute.
If you like leftovers, keep them in the refrigerator for no more than 4 days, then toss them. When you’re cooking food, use a food thermometer to determine its internal temperature.
SEATTLE, WA (May 17, 2007) – Food safety is a hot topic these days. The New York Times and Wall Street Journal ran stories on the subject on Wednesday, May 16th, and CNN is airing a special on food safety both Saturday and Sunday, May 19th and 20th.
Most media attention geared toward food safety
CNN’s investigative unit spent months putting together a one-hour special on food safety and foodborne illness, which will air this Saturday and Sunday at 8pm EST. Marler Clark worked with CNN producers to identify victims of recent foodborne illness outbreaks who could share their stories for the special, which is titled, "Danger: Poisoned Food".
The USDA is expected to announce today whether 20 million chickens who were fed melamine-contaminated feed are to be released into the US food supply. Bloomberg News reported on USDA’s investigation and decision-making process:
The U.S. Department of Agriculture said it is keeping as many as 20 million chickens from slaughter this weekend as officials
In an interview with Phyllis Jacobs Griekspoor from the McClatchkey News Service, Dr. Douglas Powell of the International Food Safety Network said, "[Food safety] all boils down to three words. Don’t eat poop." The interview was for an article that appeared at NorthJersey.com on Wednesday.
In the article, which focuses on the International Food Safety
Former heads of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) testified yesterday that more must be done to protect our nation’s food safety. The statements came the same day the FDA announced that it had created a new position – termed the Food Safety Czar by members of Congress – to coordinate food safety efforts. Bloomberg
An article from the Des Moines Register quoted business owners and state health officials who are at odds over how restaurant and other food service establishment inspections should be paid for.
Iowa restaurants and grocery stores are, according to this story, being inspected about half as often as the law requires, and food inspectors are
MSNBC reported today that the wave of American pet deaths linked to contaminated food is bringing home a frightening new fact: China’s chronic food safety woes are now an international concern.
The list of Chinese food exports rejected at American ports reads like a chef’s nightmare: pesticide-laden pea pods, drug-laced catfish, filthy plums and crawfish
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Commentary from the International Food Safety Network Douglas Powell
Spinach and lettuce is once again being harvested in California and it’s as safe as it was before the food poisoning outbreaks of last fall. Or 2005. Or after any of the other 29 leafy green outbreaks over the past 15 years.
But there is some hope that the safety of leafy greens will improve. And it has nothing to do with calls for government inspections, new technology, or even pledges by growers to be extra super special careful.
The final report on the fall 2006 outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 in spinach, which sickened 205 and killed three, has come and gone, interesting those in the business but largely a yawn to the salad-eating public — a public that is skeptical and is buying 20-to-30 per cent less of the leafy green stuff than a year ago.Continue Reading Don’t eat poop — and other lessons from spinach