The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has announced new and revised performance standards to reduce Salmonella and Campylobacter incidence in young chickens and turkeys. Effective July 2011, the standards apparently draw on the FSIS Nationwide Microbiological Baseline Data Collection Programs and the recommendations of President Barack Obama’s (D) Food Safety Working Group. According to a March 21, 2011, Federal Register notice, “The standards will be applied to sample sets collected and analyzed by the Agency to evaluate establishment performance with respect to requirements of the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) Rule.” FSIS has estimated that, after two years, the combined Campylobacter and Salmonella standards will prevent approximately 25,000 illnesses annually. “While the industry has made significant strides in recent years, far too many Americans continue to fall victim to these foodborne illnesses,” said Under Secretary for Food Safety Elisabeth Hagen in a March…
Category Archives Legislation, Regulations and Standards
The U.S. Secretary of Agriculture is requesting nominations for members to the Advisory Committee on Biotechnology and 21st Century Agriculture. Nominations for one- to two-year terms are requested by April 18, 2011. Members are selected to “achieve a balanced representation of viewpoints” to address USDA biotechnology policy issues. Issues of the most immediate concern involve providing practical suggestions “on ways to strengthen coexistence among different agricultural crop production methods.” See Federal Register, March 18, 2011.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has denied requests to delay a final rule amending food additive regulations “to provide for the safe use of ionizing radiation for the control of Vibrio species and other foodborne pathogens in fresh or frozen molluscan shellfish.” According to FDA, it has reviewed opposition to the final rule and requests for a hearing, but concluded that objections filed by groups such as Public Citizen and the Center for Food Safety did not “justify a hearing or otherwise provide a basis for revoking the regulation.” In particular, the agency’s latest decision dismisses allegations that (i) FDA failed to consider evidence indicating “harmful effects from consumption of irradiated molluscan shellfish”; (ii) the final rule does not ensure a product “that is microbiologically safe”; (iii) there is no reasonable certainty of no harm; (iv) FDA failed to consider “several factors that could make irradiated molluscan shellfish unsafe”;…
The World Health Organization (WHO), U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) have continued to address public concerns about food produced in Japan, where a recent earthquake and tsunami compromised the Fukushima prefecture’s nuclear power plant, releasing radiation into the atmosphere. According to WHO, which has published a list of frequently asked questions about the disaster, “[f]ood safety issues are an additional dimension of the emergency,” with some products likely to be deemed unsafe for human consumption. In areas where contamination has occurred, the organization has specifically urged citizens to avoid consuming milk or vegetables, slaughtering animals, hunting, harvesting aquatic animals and plants, or collecting other wild foods such as mushrooms. It has also asked producers to take numerous precautions to protect vegetables, livestock and rice harvests from fallout. “The presence of radioactivity in some vegetables and milk has been confirmed and some of the initial…
Five Hispanic farmers have filed a putative class action in a D.C. district court against the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), to seek “redress from Defendants’ unconstitutional treatment in the proposed settlement of discrimination claims by these Hispanic Plaintiffs . . . as compared to the manner in which Defendants have settled identical discrimination claims by similarly situated African-American and Native American claimants, . . . all of whom were undeniably discriminated against in like manner by [USDA] in the administration of its farm credit and non-credit farm benefit programs.” Cantu v. United States, No. 11-00541 (D.D.C., filed March 15, 2011). According to the complaint, the government has paid African-American farmers about $1 billion in settlement benefits, and legislation signed into law in December 2010 provides an additional $1.25 billion to settle African-American farmers’ claims. Native American farmers were purportedly offered $680 million in compensation and $80 million in debt…
The Institute of Medicine (IOM) has issued a report analyzing the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) “Healthy People 2020” initiative aimed at improving the overall health of Americans over the coming decade. According to a March 15, 2011, IOM press release, HHS asked the institute to review and recommend “leading health indicators that could sharpen the focus of the agenda,” which seeks to “identify nationwide health improvement priorities; increase public awareness and understanding of determinants of health, disease, disability, and understanding of opportunities for progress; provide measurable objectives and goals applicable at national, state, and local levels; engage multiple sectors to take actions to strengthen policies and improve practices that are driven by the best available evidence and knowledge; and identify critical needs for research evaluation and data collection.” In the new report, IOM has updated and expanded on “10 leading health indicators that served as priorities for…
The Codex Committee on Methods of Analysis and Sampling has reportedly endorsed guidelines providing regulators and the dairy industry a standard reference for testing melamine in dairy products, including powdered infant formula. Developed by the International Dairy Federation (IDF) and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in the wake of a melamine contamination scandal in China that purportedly sickened thousands of young children, the guidelines represent an internationally harmonized procedure that will allow authorities to determine if levels of melamine in dairy products exceed the Codex maximum level of 1 mg melamine per kg of product. The Codex Alimentarius Commission will consider the committee’s endorsement and vote on the guidelines’ adoption in July 2011. The guidelines, titled “ISO/TS 15495 IDF/RM 230:2010, Milk, milk products and infant formulae—Guidelines for the quantitative determination of melamine and cyanuric acid by LC-MS/MS,” reportedly provide advice about sampling, test procedures and performance with examples of…
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Organic Program (NOP) has issued a final rule extending the use of methionine in organic poultry production until October 1, 2012. Effective March 15, 2011, the rule amends the National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances according to the recommendations of the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB), which governs the use of synthetic and non-synthetic substances in organic processing and production. A dietary supplement, methionine “is classified as an essential amino acid because it cannot be biologically produced by poultry and is necessary to maintain vitality.” In 2009, the Methionine Task Force filed a petition requesting a five-year extension on the allowance for synthetic methionine, partly because wholly natural sources of the supplement are not available. NOSB ultimately recommended that, at first, “the amount of synthetic methionine per ton of feed be limited to 4 pounds for laying chickens, 5 pounds for broiler chickens,…
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced its first public meeting to discuss implementation of import safety provisions recently enacted by the Food Safety Modernization Act. Titled “FDA Food Safety Modernization Act: Title III—A New Paradigm for Importers,” the March 29, 2011, meeting in Silver Spring, Maryland, seeks stakeholder input to develop regulations and guidance “on importer verification, the Voluntary Qualified Importer Program, import certifications for food, and third-party accreditation.” FDA requests comments by April 29, 2011. See Federal Register, March 14, 2011. In a related matter, FDA has also announced a public hearing on the agency’s new initiatives for ensuring the safety of imported foods and animal feed to reduce food borne illness. The March 30-31 hearing in College Park, Maryland, will “provide stakeholders the opportunity to discuss FDA’s use of international comparability assessments as a mechanism to enhance the safety of imported foods and animal feed and lessons…
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently issued a report reviewing the activities of the Food Safety Working Group (FSWG), an advisory panel established by President Barack Obama (D) to recommend improvements to the U.S. food safety system. According to GAO, the working group has spurred the Food and Drug Administration, U.S. Department of Agriculture and other federal agencies to implement “steps designed to increase collaboration in some areas that cross regulatory jurisdictions––in particular, improving produce safety, reducing Salmonella contamination, and developing food safety performance measures.” The report concludes, however, that the FSWG did not develop “a government-wide performance plan for food safety that provides a comprehensive picture of the federal government’s food safety efforts.” GAO specifically faults the group for failing to include “results-oriented” goals, performance measures or “information about the resources that are needed to achieve its goals.” The March 2011 GAO report highlights “options to reduce fragmentation and overlap…
