The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (UDSA’s) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) has issued a proposed rule that would establish a voluntary National Leafy Green Marketing Agreement (NLGMA) “to regulate the handling of leafy green vegetables, including but limited to lettuce, spinach, and cabbage.” According to AMS, the proposed agreement would “authorize the development and implementation of production and handling regulations (audit metrics)” to reflect USDA’s Good Handling Practices, as well as the Food and Drug Administration’s Good Agricultural Practices and Good Manufacturing Practices. AMS has requested comments and written exceptions to the proposed rule by July 28, 2011. The voluntary NLGMA would cover both domestic and imported leafy green vegetables, with signatories agreeing to only handle products that meet program requirements. It is evidently modeled after a similar marketing agreement pioneered by California growers, who in 2006 faced a widespread E. coli outbreak linked to fresh spinach, and also takes into account…
Tag Archives food safety
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) has issued a report recommending how the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) could improve the safety of school meals purchased through its commodities program. The report recommends that USDA instruct the commodity program to (i) “develop a systematic and transparent process to determine whether foods offered by the program require more-stringent specifications related to microbial contamination, including steps to: identify pathogens, strains of pathogens, or other foods that merit more stringent-specifications; document the scientific basis used to develop the specifications; and review the specifications on a periodic basis”; and (ii) “share information with school districts in a more explicit form regarding the foods covered by more-stringent purchasing specifications related to microbial contamination to enable districts to make more informed choices.”
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced the availability of updated safety standard guidelines for the seafood industry. The 476-page document “supports and complements FDA’s regulations for the safe and sanitary processing and importing of fish and fishery products using hazard analysis and critical control point (HACCP) methods” required of commercial seafood processors. The revised guidance provides current information on (i) “potential hazards associated with the known commercial species of vertebrate and invertebrate seafood,” (ii) “potential hazards associated with certain processing operations,” (iii) “HACCP strategies that may be used to control the potential hazards,” and (iv) “other information related to food safety.” See Federal Register, April 28, 2011.
The U.S. Senate has approved a bill (S. 216) designed to “strengthen criminal penalties for companies that knowingly violate food safety standards and place tainted food products on the market,” according to the legislation’s sponsor, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.). The proposal would increase offenses from a misdemeanor to a felony, establish fines and give law enforcement the ability to seek prison sentences of up to 10 years. See Press Release of Senator Patrick Leahy, April 15, 2011.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has proposed a procedural change that would allow inspectors to keep meat and poultry products from commerce “until FSIS test results for harmful substances are received.” FSIS currently recommends that processors and official import establishments hold sampled products pending test results, but has evidently concluded that his voluntary measure has allowed adulterated shipments to enter the market. “Therefore, FSIS is announcing its tentative determination not to apply the mark of inspection until negative results are available and received for any testing for adulterants,” stated the agency, which will accept comments on the proposal for 90 days after publication in the Federal Register. FSIS has argued that a mandatory “test and hold” requirement will “substantially reduce serious recalls for meat and poultry.” Along with the agency’s new and revised performance standards to reduce Salmonella and Campylobacter incidence in young chickens and…
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) have announced that they are seeking comments and scientific data to update a risk assessment on the relationship between foodborne Listeria in selected ready-to-eat (RTE) foods and human health. According to the agencies, the effort is designed to evaluate reduction or prevention strategies of Listeria exposure to RTE foods, such as “the impact of changing refrigerated time and temperature storage prior to consumption.” The agencies specifically request comments or data on areas including (i) Listeria “contamination in different RTE foods sampled at retail or in the processing plant,” (ii) Listeria “survival and growth dynamics in RTE foods,” (iii) “the relationship between the dose of Listeria monocytogenes ingested with food and the frequency of Listeria,” (iv) “current food consumption practices in the United States” relating to RTE foods, and (v) storage times and temperatures that may affect Listeria growth during…
The Senate Judiciary Committee has sent to the Senate a food safety crime bill (S. 216). Designed to “strengthen criminal penalties for companies that knowingly violate food safety standards and place tainted food products on the market,” the legislation would increase offenses from a misdemeanor to a felony, establish fines and give law enforcement the ability to seek prison sentences of up to 10 years. “The fines and recalls that usually result from criminal violations under current law fall short in protecting the public from harmful products,” Leahy said in a statement. Details of the Food Safety Accountability Act, first proposed in summer 2010 by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and reintroduced in January, appear in Issue 380 of this Update. See Press Release of Senator Patrick Leahy, March 31, 2011.
Canada has begun publishing the names of companies in violation of the country’s food, animal and plant-supply regulations. Reportedly aimed at improving accountability and transparency, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s (CFIA’s) website initiative now publishes such information as the (i) “food imports that have been refused entry into Canada”; (ii) “federally registered food establishments whose licenses have been suspended, cancelled or reinstated”; and (iii) “notices of violations with warning and penalties, including identifying repeat offenders of animal transport regulations.” See CFIA Press Release, March 16, 2011.
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…
The National Institute for Animal Agriculture (NIAA) has scheduled its annual conference for April 11-14, 2011, in San Antonio, Texas. Titled “Consumers’ Stake in Today’s Food Production: Meeting Growing Demands with Integrity,” the event will include presentations on food supply and food safety issues. Shook, Hardy & Bacon Agribusiness & Food Safety Co-Chair Mark Anstoetter will speak during the conference about “Legal Challenges and Ramifications of Food Production Systems and Food Safety.” Shook, Hardy & Bacon is a conference co-sponsor.
