In the News

''Scarce pandemic vaccine to be given in order''

''In the early weeks of a flu pandemic, the first to receive scarce supplies of vaccine will include the military, medical and emergency workers, pregnant women and babies — nearly 23 million people — under a draft federal plan to be outlined Tuesday in Washington.''

More

''Salmonella Outbreak Prompts Peanut Butter Recall''

"Four years after a salmonella outbreak tied to peanut butter, it's happened again -- despite stricter industry standards. A recall of Trader Joe's peanut butter a week ago has been expanded to more than 100 products sold nationally in many other supermarkets. At least 30 people have been infected with salmonella Bredeney in 19 states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Four were hospitalized. No deaths have been reported."

More

''Salmonella at Indiana Farm Matches Outbreak Strain''

"A southwestern Indiana cantaloupe farm is the source of at least some of the salmonella responsible for an outbreak that sickened people in 21 states and killed two Kentucky residents, the Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday."

More

Risks Associated with Compounding Pharmacies

The Pew Charitable Trusts has identified 20 pharmacy compounding errors associated with 982 adverse events, including 67 deaths, since 2001. Contamination of sterile products were the most common compounding errors, though some were the result of pharmacists’ and technicians’ miscalculations and mistakes in filling prescriptions.

More

Representative Slaughter Leads Effort to Protect Public from Superbugs

Meat and poultry producers routinely feed antibiotics to healthy animals to make them grow faster and to compensate for overcrowded and unsanitary conditions. These practices breed drug-resistant superbugs that make human diseases more difficult and costly to treat and more likely to cause death. Fortunately, on March 14, U.S. Representative Louise Slaughter (D-NY) introduced the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act of 2013 (PAMTA) to restrict animal agricultural practices that threaten the public’s health.

More

''Report Targets Costs Of Factory Farming''

''Factory farming takes a big, hidden toll on human health and the environment, is undermining rural America's economic stability and fails to provide the humane treatment of livestock increasingly demanded by American consumers, concludes an independent, 2 1/2 -year analysis that calls for major changes in the way corporate agriculture produces meat, milk and eggs.''

More

''Rep. Louise Slaughter On Antibiotics, Meat And Superbugs''

"80 percent of all the antibiotics we pump out these days goes into animals and animal feed — cows, hogs, chickens, turkeys and more across America, chowing down daily on antibiotics in their feed. To make them grow faster. To allow them to live in crowded conditions. Health officials are clanging the alarm bell, saying that is overuse that is breeding antibiotic-resistant superbugs that we can’t stop, that kill. The meat industry says, “chill out.”

More

''Recall Reveals An Egg's Long Path To The Deli Sandwich''

"More than 1 million eggs bound for supermarkets, delis and convenience stores have been recalled since late January for possible contamination with listeria monocytogenes, a bacterium that causes fever, nausea and diarrhea, and can be deadly in children and the elderly. No illnesses have been reported."

More

''Promise of Food Safety Law Largely Unfulfilled''

With thousands of Americans falling ill and public confidence shaken after a series of high-profile foodborne outbreaks several years ago involving consumer staples such as lettuce, peppers, peanuts and eggs, Congress and the White House moved aggressively to bring food safety into the 21st century. But two years after President Obama signed a sweeping food safety bill into law, the rules at the heart of the largest food safety overhaul in more than 70 years have yet to be put in place.

More

''Produce tied to a third of major outbreaks in 2011''

More

''Pig Manure Reveals More Reason to Worry About Antibiotics''

There's a global campaign to force meat producers to rein in their use of antibiotics on pigs, chickens and cattle. European countries, especially Denmark and the Netherlands, have taken the lead. The U.S. is moving, haltingly, toward similar restrictions. Now the concerns about rampant antibiotic use appear to have reached China, where meat production and antibiotic use have been growing fast.

More

Pew Statement on The School Food Modernization Act

Jessica Donze Black, project director for the Pew Health Group’s School Foods Project, issued the following statement in support of the School Food Modernization Act, which would help school kitchens replace outdated equipment and provide training for their workers.

More