"The Food and Drug Administration is holding all orange juice being imported into the United States at the border while it tests for contamination with a fungus-killing chemical. The action is lowering stock prices for companies that sell orange juice and raising questions about the ability of the overstretched agency to protect the safety of the U.S. food system, critics say." More info
"There were 16 significant or unusual multistate outbreaks of foodborne illnesses in the U.S. in 2011, with five of them involving fresh produce, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s annual year in review." More info
"A listeria outbreak that killed 30 people and sickened 146 others might have been avoided if a Colorado cantaloupe processor had followed U.S. guidelines and washed the fruit in chlorinated water, a congressional investigation found." More info
"Consumer groups are hoping a new federal law will help shield the food chain from contaminants like the recent E. coli outbreak that sickened 60 people, including 23 in St. Louis County, and prompted a lawsuit."
More info"The premature girl from Fishers, Ind., is one of the tiniest victims of last summer’s deadly listeria outbreak in cantaloupe, which sickened 146 people, including 30 who died."
More info"The Food and Drug Administration is relying more often on states to inspect food plants but is failing to properly monitor those state inspections or follow through on their findings, the Department of Health and Human Services watchdog has concluded."
More info"Romaine lettuce from one harvest at a single farm was the likely culprit of the E. coli outbreak that sickened 60 people across 10 states this fall, according to a federal report released Wednesday."
More info"The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has determined that romaine lettuce from a single farm is likely to blame for an E. coli outbreak in Missouri and nine other states."
More info"Romaine lettuce from one harvest at a single farm was the likely culprit of the E. coli outbreak that sickened 60 people across 10 states this fall, according to a federal report released Wednesday."
More info"An Omaha man who says he was made ill with listeriosis from contaminated Colorado cantaloupe is suing the grower, the distributor, a lab that audited the farm for food safety and Kroger Co., the owner of Baker's Supermarket, where he bought the contaminated melon."
More info"The listeria outbreak from Colorado grower Jensen Farms' cantaloupe has killed 29 people nationwide — eight in Colorado — and caused one miscarriage. Dozens more people, including Mike Hauser, have been irreparably damaged by an especially vicious bacterium."
More info"A Colorado cantaloupe farm linked by federal regulators to one of the deadliest food outbreaks since the 1920s was graded as having “superior” safety practices just one month before consumers became ill from eating the fruit."
More info"Jensen Farms and its owners remain under threat of criminal prosecution for the cantaloupe listeria outbreak that has killed 29 people, but the history of even the most scandalous food poisonings shows such charges are rare."
More infoIn an unusual move, Del Monte Fresh Produce has filed suit against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration saying "erroneous speculation, unsupported by scientific evidence" led to a March recall of Guatemalan cantaloupes tied to an outbreak of Salmonella Panama.
More infoA number of major countries exporting fresh vegetables and fruit into the United States have modernized food-safety laws and regulations over the past two decades to emphasize preventive measures, according to new report released today by the Produce Safety Project (PSP) at Georgetown University. The report, “Legal and Regulatory Frameworks Governing the Growing, Packing and Handling of Fresh Produce in Countries Exporting to the U.S.,” presents a series of case studies examining five of the top 10 U.S. produce trade partners – Canada, Chile, China, Mexico and Peru. The report was written by Monachus Consulting, an international agricultural industry consulting firm based in Canada.
More infoThe Pew Health Group and the Center for Science in the Public Interest address the safety of imported seafood and raw produce.
Erik Olson
Senior Director, Food Portfolio
The Pew Charitable Trusts
Copyright(c) 1996-2012 The Pew Charitable Trusts. All Rights Reserved.
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