Food Safety News and Resources | May
Good news for pesticides in food, 40 free videos for training, cucumber recall
23 May | Food Safety News and Free Resources1 |
⚠ 🥒 Recall and outbreak: Cucumbers for Salmonella (USA)
💀🦠 (Very) deadly Listeria outbreak declared over (USA)
🧪 Microplastics: A new review
🍓 Pesticides in the food supply – Good news (Europe)
📽 Training resource: The personal side of food safety (40 videos)
🎓Webinar - Outdated or Overlooked? Rethinking Your Hazard Analysis, 30th May
🎓Webinar - Listeria roundtable: Recent developments in Listeria regulations, guidance, and research, 4th June
⚠ 🥒 Recall and outbreak: Cucumbers for Salmonella (USA)
Twenty-six people have been sickened, and 9 people hospitalised with salmonellosis from fresh cucumbers. The outbreak strain is Salmonella montevideo. Illnesses have been linked to fresh cucumbers grown by one company. The recall is ongoing.
💀🦠 (Very) deadly Listeria outbreak declared over (USA)
Fourteen people died from listeriosis traced to special dietary frozen milkshakes served in medical facilities. At least 28 other people were sickened. The outbreak strain has been causing illnesses since 2018, and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) started investigating in 2024. The facility where the products were made contained the same strain of Listeria monocytogenes as the strain causing the illnesses. The outbreak has been declared over by authorities.
https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2025/05/listeria-outbreak-ends-with-14-dead/
🧪 Microplastics: A new review
Researchers have published a review in the journal Emerging Contaminants. It provides a comprehensive description of the sources, detection methods, and health risks associated with microplastics in food and addresses ingestion pathways, health hazards posed by microplastics, their prevalence in food and detection technologies.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405665025000113?via%3Dihub
🍓 Pesticides in the food supply – Good news (Europe)
The European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA) most recent annual report confirms that the risk to public health from pesticide residues in food remains low, consistent with findings from previous years. In 2023, EFSA examined thousands of samples from commonly consumed foods, providing an updated picture of pesticide residue levels across the food supply.
The report draws on data collected through both random and targeted monitoring. As part of the EU-coordinated control program (EU MACP), 13,246 random samples were collected from EU Member States, Norway, and Iceland. This program revisits the same food products every three years to monitor trends. The 2023 sampling focused on carrots, cauliflowers, various types of kiwis, onions, oranges, pears, potatoes, dried beans, brown rice, rye, bovine liver, and poultry fat.
Results showed that 99% of these samples met EU regulatory standards, maintaining the high compliance rate observed in 2020. Specifically, 70% of the samples had no measurable pesticide residues, while 28% contained residues within legal thresholds. Only 2% of samples surpassed the maximum residue levels (MRLs), and after accounting for measurement uncertainty, just 1% were deemed non-compliant.
https://affidiajournal.com/en/eu-current-status-of-pesticide-residues-in-food
📽 Training resource: The personal side of food safety (40 videos)
The Alliance to Stop Foodborne Illness has published 40 videos that feature powerful real-life experiences of families affected by foodborne illnesses. The videos are designed to empower front-line workers and senior management to understand how their actions can affect the lives of consumers.
Video Series Putting a Face on Foodborne Illness | Alliance to STOP
🎓Webinar - Outdated or Overlooked? Rethinking Your Hazard Analysis, 30th May
Join SafetyChain's FSMA Friday webinar to discover straightforward methods for identifying hidden risks in your current hazard analysis plan, and learn why updating it now is essential for protecting your brand and customers.
Register here: Outdated or Overlooked? Rethinking Your Hazard Analysis
🎓Webinar - Listeria roundtable: Recent developments in Listeria regulations, guidance, and research, 4th June
Vikan is hosting a webinar to discuss recent outbreaks and changes in Listeria regulations in both the EU and the US, best practices for controlling Listeria, and future management strategies.
Register here: Webinar - Listeria roundtable: Outbreaks, outreach, and outlooks
In last week’s food fraud news:
📌 Peanut in garlic, hmmm;
📌 Another new test method for honey;
📌 Learnings from the EU Annual Report Alert & Cooperation Network;
📌 Incidents affecting fish, rice, tea and functional foods.
12 May | Food Safety News and Free Resources |
💀🦠 Death from anthrax in undercooked beef (Thailand)
⚠ 🌭 Recall: Sausages and sliced meat for excess sodium nitrite (USA)
🐍 100 illnesses from snake in school lunch (India)
🦠 Mystery long-term Listeria outbreak solved (USA)
🧪 Cassava products contain excessive lead (USA)
🍼 🧪 Baby formulas heavy metal results (USA)
💊 Supplements and functional foods: safety report by FAO
📖 Free Guidance: Food Risks Versus Hazards
🎓Webinar – Pest Management Ask the Experts, 22 May
🎓Webinar - Introduction to Microbiology: Principles and Applications to Food Safety Part 3, 17th June
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💀🦠 Death from anthrax in undercooked beef (Thailand)
At least 638 people have potentially been exposed to anthrax after butchering livestock and eating raw or undercooked beef in Thailand. One person has died.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/anthrax-outbreak-thailand-meat-origin-b2743600.html#
⚠ 🌭 Recall: Sausages and sliced meat for excess sodium nitrite (USA)
Almost 20,000 pounds of ready-to-eat meat products have been recalled because they contain sodium nitrite above the regulatory limit. The recall was initiated after consumers complained of off-taste and off-colours.
🐍 100 illnesses from snake in school lunch (India)
Media outlets are reporting on protests by the parents of 100 children who became ill after eating a school lunch which was served despite a dead snake having been found in, and subsequently removed from the food. The issue is being treated as a violation of human rights of the students by authorities, which have demanded a detailed report about the incident.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g2qe008v6o
🦠 Mystery long-term Listeria outbreak solved (USA)
A recall has been initiated for ready-to-eat foods like sandwiches and protein snacks made in a single facility and sold to hospitals and airlines, as well as retail stores, and with multiple brand names, after the facility was linked to a long-running listeriosis outbreak that has resulted in at least 10 hospitalisations. The outbreak has been under investigation since 2024, with the first victim taken ill in 2023. Whole genome sequencing has enabled authorities to match the outbreak strain from patients to Listeria found in the facility.
🧪 Cassava products contain excessive lead (USA)
A consumer advocacy group has tested 27 products made with cassava and found two-thirds contain more lead than the daily acceptable intake in a single serving. The group claims this food category is the second-worst category they have tested with respect to lead contamination, after herbs and spices. The samples included cassava flour, chips and pasta. Cassava is also known as yuca or manioc.
🍼 🧪 Baby formulas heavy metal results (USA)
The latest round of testing by consumer group Consumer Reports has revealed approximately half the samples of powdered infant formula on the US market have potentially harmful levels of at least one contaminant. The samples, 41 in total, and representing popular brands, local brands, startups and imported brands, were tested for heavy metals and other chemicals, including arsenic, lead, BPA, acrylamide, and PFAS.
💊 Supplements and functional foods: safety report by FAO
The FAO has explored existing and emerging safety considerations for food supplements and functional foods, including their potential to interact with medications, dosage, and the safety of novel ingredients.
Get the report here: Food safety in personalized nutrition
📖 Free Guidance: Food Risks Versus Hazards
The (UK) Institute of Food Science and Technology (IFST) has published free guidance on risk versus hazards in food risk assessment, which includes risk quantification, recall decision-making and the concept of ‘tolerable risk’ in law.
🎓Webinar – Pest Management Ask the Experts, 22 May
This webinar, hosted by BRCGS has no pre-planned presentations, just dynamic, audience-driven discussions. When you register below, please submit your questions, and our panel of industry experts will tackle them in an engaging panel discussion. This episode will focus on the topic of Pest Management.
🎓Webinar - Introduction to Microbiology: Principles and Applications to Food Safety Part 3, 17th June
This Nestle-hosted webinar builds on the principles from the first two Introduction to Microbiology sessions, aimed at entry-level professionals and non-microbiologists seeking to understand microorganisms and their impact on food safety.
Register here: Registration
In this week’s food fraud news:
📌 Alert for nuts and cereals;
📌 Warnings for maple syrup and aquaculture fish;
📌 Fraud in British eggs 😮;
📌 Tallow fraud sentencing, suspicious honey, faked offal delicacy, tea made from waste and more.
Past Issues of Food Safety News
Food Safety News, February 2025