Food Safety News and Resources | September
September 2024
23 September | Food Safety News and Free Resources1 |
Recalls and warnings: Mustard-containing foods for peanut allergens (UK… but likely to affect more countries) |
Recalls: Polenta for tropane alkaloids (Europe) |
Food Safety Style Guide – New Resource |
Microplastics in hamburger beef – new information |
Guidance: New Food and Product Defence Guideline from IFS |
Pesticide residues in food (USA) |
Avoid the Recalls: How to Maintain Brand Reputation and Drive Company-Wide Compliance, 24th September |
Webinar - Unlocking the Secrets of Food Safety: A Deep Dive into Microbiological Challenge Testing, 26th September |
Webinar - Food Microbiology 101, 26th September |
Webinar - Preparing for the Fall Surge of Rodents, 27th September |
⚠ Recalls and warnings: Mustard-containing foods for peanut allergens (UK… but likely to affect more countries)
The United Kingdom’s Food Standards Agency has issued warnings to consumers of foods containing mustard powder, such as sandwiches, sauces and dips over fears the mustard contains undeclared peanut allergens. More than 50 products have been recalled already. The contaminated mustard powder originated in India, the world’s third largest mustard exporter, so this issue could be occurring in other locations as well as the United Kingdom.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crl8kr1xyxgo and https://www.food.gov.uk/news-alerts/news/urgent-allergy-advice-mustard-ingredients-contaminated-with-peanuts and https://www.food.gov.uk/news-alerts/alert/fsa-aa-42-2024
⚠ Recalls: Polenta for tropane alkaloids (Europe)
Polenta as been found to contain more than 6 times the maximum allowed level of tropane alkaloid toxins and has been recalled. The polenta originated in Italy and was distributed to Belgium, France, Italy and the Netherlands.
https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/rasff-window/screen/notification/711091
😀 👩🍳 Food Safety Style Guide – New Resource
Health Canada has published a fabulous style guide for food-safe recipes, for recipe writers, food journalists and chefs. The style guide helps such writers create recipes that encourage home cooks to follow best practices. The style guide includes messages for recipes (e.g. “Put leftovers away in the fridge within 2 hours, or sooner if they are in warm location”, when to use the message (e.g. “include it when the recipe will make a lot of food and there may be leftovers; include it when preparing food for special occasions as there may be a lot of food as this will avoid food waste”) and where to put the message (e.g. “put it near the end of the recipe; this message works well with the 'Keep cold food cold' message; include it in a tip box or a call out box to draw attention to it”).
🧪Microplastics in hamburger beef – new information
A new study adds to our currently scant knowledge of the prevalence of microplastics in terrestrial foods. Microplastics were detected in 100% (n=10) of samples of beef hamburgers purchased in Italy using Fourier-transformed infrared micro-spectroscopy, at concentrations of 200 to 30,000 particles per kilogram. Polycarbonate was the most prevalent of the 18 polymers detected, with potential sources being animal muscle, processing and packaging of the burgers.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0309174024002031
📖 Guidance: New Food and Product Defence Guideline from IFS
Standards owner IFS (International Featured Standards) has published a new version of its guidance for food defence. The new version has an added chapter on cybersecurity and aims to equip food and product suppliers with prevention methods to manage threats of intentional product contamination and assist them to meet the requirements for product defence in the IFS standards. It includes a site checklist. Recommended.
🐝 Pesticide residues in food (USA)
The FDA has released the results of their residue testing program for 2022. A total of 2,800 samples of local and imported foods were tested for 757 pesticides and industrial compounds. The samples were non-compliant at a rate of 4% for domestic foods and 10% for imported foods, which is similar to results from recent past surveys. Around 40% of the samples contained no detectable residues of chemicals. Animal feed was also tested – 230 samples.
https://www.fda.gov/food/pesticides/pesticide-residue-monitoring-report-and-data-fy-2022
🎓 Webinar - Avoid the Recalls: How to Maintain Brand Reputation and Drive Company-Wide Compliance, 24th September
Food Safety Magazine will be hosting a webinar that will cover how to:
· Automate documentation for inventory, recipes, workflows, and complaints
· Cut document revision and approval time by 10%
· Enhance visibility into quality management across teams and locations
· Lower the risk of costly product recalls and protect your brand
Register here:
🎓 Webinar - Unlocking the Secrets of Food Safety: A Deep Dive into Microbiological Challenge Testing, 26th September
SGS will be hosting a webinar where attendees will discover when it’s most beneficial to conduct a challenge study to ensure their products meet the highest safety standards.
Register here:
Unlocking the Secrets of Food Safety: A Deep Dive into Microbiological Challenge Testing (on24.com)
🎓 Webinar - Food Microbiology 101, 26th September
Microbac will host a premier webinar for food industry professionals seeking an introduction to food microbiology and testing, its importance, the challenges of these organisms, and understanding your results.
Register here:
Registration (gotowebinar.com)
🎓Webinar - Preparing for the Fall Surge of Rodents, 27th September
Hosted by IFC, this webinar will discuss the risks rodents pose and the best strategies to keep them out of your food processing facility.
Register here:
In this week’s food fraud news:
📌 Chemical adulteration’s mortality rate 😮;
📌 Guidance and new methods;
📌 Shocking stats for US meat ‘Raised without antibiotics’;
📌 Fake pesticides, huge fake organic fruit and veg operation discovered, fake halal, illicit bear meat.
Become a paid subscriber to access The Rotten Apple’s food fraud news.
16 September | Food Safety News and Free Resources |
Botulism outbreak (France) |
Recall: Apple juice for arsenic (USA) |
Weird recall: Margarine for mould (Canada) |
Recall: Canteloupe for Salmonella (USA) |
Recall: Cinnamon powder for lead (USA) |
Rice and heavy metals – new research |
Webinar - Selling Food Safety to Top Management: Strategies for Success, 19th September |
Webinar - Unlocking the Secrets of Food Safety: A Deep Dive into Microbiological Challenge Testing, 13th September |
Webinar - Introduction to Microbiology: Principles and Applications to Food Safety Part 2, 24th September |
Webinar - AI for success: foundational requirements to achieve excellence, 25th September |
⚠ Botulism outbreak (France)
Five people who ate commercially produced wild garlic pesto at a family meal are in intensive care with suspected botulism in France. The artisanal producer has been investigated and the manufacturing process was found to be unsuitable to guarantee sterilisation. All jars of the products have been recalled.
https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2024/09/pesto-linked-to-five-botulism-cases-in-france/
⚠ Recall: Apple juice for Arsenic (USA)
Hundreds of thousands of cases of apple juice from multiple brands have been recalled in the USA because the products contain inorganic arsenic above the action level set in FDA guidance.
⚠ Recall: Margarine for mould (Canada)
Three margarine products in Canada are being recalled due to the possible presence of mould.
https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2024/09/margarine-recalled-in-canada-over-mold-concerns/
⚠ Recall: Canteloupe for Salmonella (USA)
Whole cantaloupes from one brand are being recalled in the USA after routine testing at retail by state authorities found them to contain Salmonella.
https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2024/09/kandy-cantaloupe-recalled-after-testing-finds-salmonella/
⚠ Recall: Cinnamon Powder for lead (USA) - again!
Another brand has recalled its cinnamon powder because it may contain elevated levels of lead.
🌾 Rice and heavy metals – new research
New research shows that controlling the amount of irrigation water during growing can change how much arsenic and cadmium is absorbed by rice. Flooded fields result in higher arsenic and lower cadmium, while drier conditions lead to more cadmium and less arsenic.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10653-024-02116-x
🎓 Webinar - Selling Food Safety to Top Management: Strategies for Success, 19th September
This webinar, hosted by Food Safety Magazine, will feature speakers who will share specialized strategies for getting buy-in from top management for FSQ investments.
Register here:
Selling Food Safety to Top Management: Strategies for Success Registration (onlinexperiences.com)
🎓 Webinar - Unlocking the Secrets of Food Safety: A Deep Dive into Microbiological Challenge Testing, 13th September
Intertek Alchemy will be hosting a complimentary webinar that will discuss the blueprint for “training that clicks.”
Register here:
Registration (gotowebinar.com)
🎓 Webinar - Introduction to Microbiology: Principles and Applications to Food Safety Part 2, 24th September
In this webinar hosted by Nestle, participants will learn about the different categories of microorganisms of concern in food safety, their modes of infection, and the testing methods used to detect them.
Register here:
Registration (gotowebinar.com)
🎓 Webinar - AI for success: foundational requirements to achieve excellence, 25th September
The New Food team will host a webinar that will delve into the essential elements organizations must establish to harness the full potential of artificial intelligence while mitigating the risks associated with its deployment.
Register here:
AI for Success: foundational requirements to achieve excellence - New Food Magazine
9 September | Food Safety News and Free Resources |
Warning: Hand sanitisers and allergens |
‘Good’ fermentation bacterium causes blood infection (India) |
The future of food safety (Switzerland) |
Webinar - Beyond Blueprints: Identifying Pest Risks in Your Building Design, 18th September |
Webinar - Achieving an Effective HACCP Plan: Your Key to Food Safety, 19th September |
Webinar – Foodborne Illness Litigations and Lessons for the Food Sector, 18th September |
⚠ Warning: Hand sanitisers and allergens
Food handlers are confused about hand hygiene when it comes to allergen controls, says Sonia Andre of BRCGS on LinkedIn.
Sonia was asked if food handlers should use hand gel to remove food allergen residues/particles/traces. 🤔. Her answer:
”❌ ❌ ❌ 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗖𝗔𝗡𝗡𝗢𝗧 𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘀𝗲𝗿 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝘄𝗮𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘀𝗼𝗮𝗽 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗶𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗿𝗴𝗲𝗻𝘀 !!”
Thanks, Sonia
Read more about hand hygiene for allergen control in Sonia’s helpful post.
🦠 A ‘good’ fermentation bacterium causes blood infection (India)
The usually non-pathogenic bacterium Lactococcus lactis cremoris, previously known as Streptococcus lactis, which is found in fermented foods including buttermilk, cheese, pickled vegetables, beer, wine and bread, has been isolated from the blood of an ill woman after she experienced sudden symptoms of blood infection. It is thought she contracted the infection after consuming unpasteurised dairy foods.
🦠🦠🦠 Fun fact: Lactococcus lactis is so important to cheese-making that the famously cheesy US state of Wisconsin proposed to make the bacterium its official state microbe in 2010 (source) 🦠🦠🦠
📙 The future of food safety (Switzerland)
This new report discusses possible food safety trends and their potential influences on the health of Swiss citizens from 2022 to 2032. Some notable inclusions are the observation that there are greater risks of foodborne illness as the age of the population increases; an increase in demand for sustainability labels could increase the opportunities for fraudulent claims; there is a potential for micronutrient deficiencies as more people adopt vegetarian and vegan diets and new allergen risks could arise from novel plant proteins.
https://efsa.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.2903/fr.efsa.2024.FR-0041
🎓 Webinar - Beyond Blueprints: Identifying Pest Risks in Your Building Design, 18th September
The webinar, hosted by Food Safety Magazine, will examine the architectural and operational elements of your facility’s design that may be driving pest activity. Attendees will also learn where and how to inspect target pests, and how to leverage this knowledge to build an effective pest management program for your facility.
Register here:
🎓 Webinar - Achieving an Effective HACCP Plan: Your Key to Food Safety, 19th September
FOSS IQX will host a webinar to equip attendees with the knowledge and tools to master HACCP and ensure food safety.
Register here:
Registration (gotowebinar.com)
🎓 Webinar – Foodborne Illness Litigations and Lessons for the Food Sector, 18th September
This webinar, hosted by the Royal Society for Public Health, features the food lawyer Bill Marler, who will describe case studies about food poisoning outbreaks and the litigations that followed.
Learn more here: https://www.rsph.org.uk/event/foodborne-illness-litigations-and-lessons-for-the-food-sector.html
In this week’s food fraud news:
📌 Food fraud trends (China);
📌 Authenticity features on counterfeited vodka brand revealed;
📌 Improvements in the number of products adulterated with Sudan dye;
📌 Fraudulent fertiliser.
Become a paid subscriber to access The Rotten Apple’s food fraud news.
2 September | Food Safety News and Free Resources |
Recall: “God is my boss” (New Zealand) |
Mystery E. coli O157:H7 outbreak (USA) |
Cinnamon lead alert (Europe) |
Cinnamon recall – Australia’s turn! |
Warning: Plastic food serving items containing bamboo |
Allergen immunoassay methods validation: new guidance from AOAC |
Allergens in insects: Crickets and black soldier fly allergens profiled |
Food waste risks – a review |
Webinar - Pest Control in Audited Facilities, 5th September |
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⚠ Recall: “God is my boss” fruit juice seller puts lives at risk (New Zealand)
A woman who sells and donates bulk containers of unpasteurized fruit juice from an unregistered business says she will invoice the food safety authority which seized tens of thousands of dollars worth of her products. The authority also recalled all products from the market.
The woman believes raw juice can improve health and says she cannot get registration for her business because she refuses to pasteurise the products. She told reporters she is willing to go to jail for her juice “They can lock me up, I’m not going to stop.”
⚠ Mystery E. coli O157:H7 outbreak (USA)
Traceback investigations have begun in an outbreak of pathogenic E. coli which has so far affected 25 people. The food source has not yet been revealed.
https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2024/08/new-e-coli-outbreak-under-investigation/
⚠ Cinnamon recall – Australia’s turn!
Cinnamon sticks and cinnamon powder from one brand are being recalled due to “chemical (metals) contamination” – however, the type of metal was not disclosed in the recall notice.
*** Thanks to VIP subscriber Janette for sharing this ***
⚠ Cinnamon alert (Europe)
Ground cinnamon with too-high levels of lead has been flagged in Europe. The cinnamon originated in Vietnam and was distributed to various European countries and the United States.
https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/rasff-window/screen/notification/708141
⚠ Warning: Plastic food serving items containing bamboo
The United Kingdom’s Food Standards Agency has reiterated its warning to consumers to avoid purchasing or using food contact items containing bamboo and other unauthorised plant-based materials such as rice husks, wheat straw and hemp because the safety of such has not been established. Formaldehyde and melamine can migrate from these items into food and drink at levels above the mandated safety limits.
🧪 Allergen immunoassay methods validation: new guidance from AOAC
The AOAC has published new guidance for allergen method validations. The guidance was drafted by the AOAC Working Group on Food Allergens. It includes guidelines for immunoassays and superseded previous AOAC guidance on immunoassays for allergens.
🐛 Allergens in insects: Crickets and black soldier fly allergens profiled
The allergen profiles of two edible insect species, Acheta domesticus and Hermetia illucens, have been documented. Tropomyosin was found to be the most abundant and immunoreactive allergen, and this exhibited cross-reactivity with Shrimp-specific antibodies. Other unique allergens were identified in the two species including hemocyanin, vitellogenin, HSP20, apolipophorin-III, and chitin-binding protein.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/mnfr.202300811
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/mnfr.202300811
🗑 Food waste risks – a review
A new paper explores the risks associated with recycling food waste using anaerobic/co-digestion and composting. Risks faced by food waste processors including social, economic, and environmental risks are discussed.
https://www.mdpi.com/2304-8158/13/15/2374
🎓 Webinar - Pest Control in Audited Facilities, 5th September
Hosted by MGK and QA Magazine, the webinar will guide you through essential treatment options, including fogging and baits, to ensure comprehensive pest management.
Register here: Webinar Registration - Zoom
In this week’s food fraud news:
📌 Cooking oil scandal repercussions;
📌 Seafood, soy sauce, paprika, GMO, geographical origins, edible oils methods;
📌 Prawns, fake milk, dried apricots;
📌 A guilty plea for a 17 year fish fraud in the USA.
Become a paid subscriber to access The Rotten Apple’s food fraud news.