News and Resources Roundup
December 2022
19th December | Food Safety News and Free Resources1 |
🥛 😕 WHY?! A US State is considering legalizing raw (unpasteurised) milk 🥛 😕
The state is Missouri, the bills have been filed and will be heard in early 2023, the legislation aims to legalise the sale of retail raw milk and cream as well as circumvent the federal ban on the transport of raw milk. But why?
🦠 Unusual vector for cryptosporidium outbreak 🦠
Pasteurized milk purchased from an on-farm milk vending machine sickened at least 3 people in 2021, say epidemiologists who investigated the outbreak. The contamination was blamed on post-pasteurisation contamination, with the farm given a very low hygiene rating and issued with improvement notices.
https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2022/12/milk-behind-english-cryptosporidium-outbreak/
🍃 🌿 Hallucinogenic weeds in spinach recall 🌿 🍃
Authorities in Australia have recalled baby spinach and salad products containing baby spinach from a single supplier after 120 people were affected by symptoms including delirium and hallucinations. The symptoms are being blamed on contamination with “unsafe plant material.”
Aspartame safety in doubt
The safety of aspartame has been questioned after a new study found it produces anxiety in mice, even when dosed at less than 15% of the US FDA’s maximum daily intake.
🤷 IFS recognition suspended by GFSI 🤷
The Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) has suspended recognition of the IFS food standards for 3 months from Dec 8th 2022. This will affect new certificates issued to food companies for IFS compliance, which will not be GFSI recognised. More about this in Issue #69.
Ethylene oxide alerts continue (Asia)
Taiwanese authorities have seized shipments of imported instant noodles from Vietnam and Japan after finding ethylene oxide in the vegetable seasoning sachets of the products.
🎁(Free Guide) Food Safety Guide for Directors, Executives and Business Owners 🎁
What better Christmas present for the boss in your life than this ‘Governance Guide’ for business owners and executives! It explains the importance of food safety and an introduction to food safety hazards and risks, as well as food safety performance measures, a quick quiz and further reading. The legal chapter is Australia-New Zealand relevant only but the rest of it is useful anywhere in the world.
WHO consultant job; nutrition and food safety expert
The World Health Organisation (WHO) is looking for a consultant to facilitate the Technical Expert Network on Nutrition and Food Safety and the Output Delivery Team (ODT). This is a paid, full-time, work-from-home 6-month contract. Details: https://nfs.cmail20.com/t/ViewEmail/d/DE4E09DB816DD6BE2540EF23F30FEDED/2BF0509D22567CDEF1E87EB810D8F10A
Free webinar – Food Defense including Cyber-Crime Defense
25th January 2023
In this webinar: “Our expert panel will examine the increasing importance of cyber-crime mitigation activities for the food industry, discussing the warning signs, the impacts of an attack, and the hidden vulnerabilities in an increasing drive to digitize operational and supply chain assurance. We will also explain how best to ensure that your food defense program keeps up with the pace of change and that all bases are covered.”
📌 Food Fraud News 📌
This week’s food fraud news includes
emerging risks for orange juices and concentrates
basmati rice fraud
fraud in canned tuna
warnings about fraudulent bulk purchases of food ingredients.
Become a paid subscriber to access The Rotten Apple’s food fraud news.
12th December | Food Safety News and Free Resources |
🤮 Super-gross foreign body contamination event 🦷
An airline passenger found a dental implant-false tooth in her meal.
A new method for investigating foodborne illness outbreaks
The new method is a quantitative risk assessment model and is described here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/risa.13896
Free guide for take-away and meal delivery service providers
This new guide published by the Hong Kong Food and Environmental Hygiene Department describes “conditions for hygienic handling of meals during delivery to all relevant business operators, including food premises and delivery agents, which prepare and deliver meals ready for consumption to customers. The Guide aims to set out the actions that relevant business operators should take so as to reduce the risk of foodborne diseases when providing take-away meals and meal delivery services.”
Policy Discussion Paper: Food Industry Lobbying in the UK
“In this Discussion Paper, we examine the interactions of businesses with three major UK government departments, identify weaknesses in the current disclosure process, and compare UK procedures with the more stringent disclosure requirements in two other English-speaking countries, Ireland and Canada, which tend to produce more specific and transparent data.”
🍗 It’s not safe to use microwave ovens for frozen stuffed chicken, but… 🍗
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has published the results of a survey of people who purchase frozen stuffed checkn products. Because it is hard to inactivate Salmonella in these products by microwave cooking, packages now have to say the products must be cooked in conventional ovens, not microwave ovens. However, 29% of survey respondents said they still use a microwave. Get the full report and discussion here: https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/mm7148a2.htm
Best practices in Listeria risk assessments
The FAO has published a document describing how best to approach risk assessments for L. monocytogenes in a range of food types including ready-to-eat seafood, cantaloupe and leafy greens.
Microplastics: How they get into food plants and move through the food chain (new research)
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1748013222002390?via%3Dihub
Major US food regulator FDA ‘fails’ an independent review, is in ‘constant turmoil’
A review of the US FDA Human Foods Program found major problems with both its ability to prevent foodborne illnesses and its ability to work on reducing food-related chronic diseases like obesity. Here’s what two commentators had to say about the report:
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/12/06/fda-formula-report-foods-program-00072584
https://www.foodpolitics.com/2022/12/expert-committee-releases-fda-evaluation-report/
Report: UK Government Chemist Annual Review (2021)
Includes referee cases including GMO detection, pesticides in organic peanuts, aflatoxins and liposomal vitamin C analysis.
Allergens found in “peanut-free” curry
A “peanut free” curry was tested by food officials after they received a complaint from a consumer and found it contained peanut proteins. The peanuts were present in a mixed-nut ingredient used in the curry. Restaurant staff had not been trained in allergen controls and did not record allergen information for the foods they prepared or sold. The restaurant was fined.
5th December | Food Safety News and Free Resources |
🍫 Weird Recall #1: Silica Beads in Hot Choc Powder 🍫
Hot chocolate powder (brand Aero) is being recalled in Ireland due to the presence of silica beads of up to 3 mm in size. All pack types and all batches are affected.
💥 🦠 Whistleblowers Flag Listeria Issues at Alt-Meat Company 🦠 💥
Whistleblowers and former employees at Beyond Meat told a major US newspaper that Beyond Meat products made in Pennsylvania had tested positive for Listeria on eleven occasions since the middle of 2021.
🤒 Mystery Salmonella in Norway 🤒
A serious Salmonella outbreak is underway in Norway with at least 13 people in hospital. The species is Salmonella agona. The people are from eight different regions. The source is unknown.
📌 Food Fraud News 📌
This week’s food fraud news includes
a new ‘secret compartment’ milk fraud,
sanitiser fraud,
“rampant” adulteration of cardamom,
pig blood products sold online.
Become a paid subscriber to access The Rotten Apple’s food fraud news.
Weird Recall #2: Canned Seltzer Drinks - Australia
Certain batches of canned alcoholic seltzer were recalled because they were affected by secondary fermentation, leading to a higher-than-labelled alcohol content and over-carbonation.
Weird Recall #3: Oops we didn’t mean to sell these as retail packs (??!)
New Zealand suppliers of poppy seeds have said “oops sorry” and recalled packs of seeds that they say were “incorrectly sold direct to consumers. Product was intended to be sold only as an ingredient for use in making other foods.”
The dangers are to people who use the products to make poppy seed tea and those who experience symptoms are urged to seek urgent medical attention.
🌿 🍃 Irrigation water for agriculture – risks and controls; a free webinar 🍃 🌿
Date: Dec 8th 2022
Learn about doing risk-based water testing for agriculture. Includes a live Q and A.
American states are arguing over pig welfare standards
Iowa wants to raise cheap pork, California wants humane farming. The lawyers are getting rich as organisations such as the national Prok Producers Council and the California Department of Food and Agriculture battle over the moral and legal issues in the courts.
The FDA releases new draft guidance on allergens
The draft guidance is open for comment until January 2023. It addresses sesame, which needs to be labelled as an allergen in the USA from 1st January 2023 and proteins from alternative/novel sources, such as milk protein from fermentation processes.
It’s now legal to sell defrosted poultry meat as fresh/chilled in England and Wales
Bird flu impacts have prompted England and Wales to change rules temporarily so that farmers can freeze animals that have been slaughtered early, defrost them later and sell them defrosted. This applies to turkey, duck, capon and goose.
7 new covid-in-the-food-chain papers
SARS-CoV-2 remains infectious on frozen berries for at least one month
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0740002022001083?via%3Dihub
The virus remains infectious on food contact surfaces and foods, especially at freezer temperatures and can survive simulated intestinal fluids
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0963996922010729?via%3Dihub
The propensity of fomite spread of SARS-CoV-2 virus through produce supply chain
https://bnrc.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s42269-022-00935-5
Viability of SARS-CoV-2 on lettuce, chicken, and salmon and its inactivation by peracetic acid, ethanol, and chlorine dioxide
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0740002022001885?via%3Dihub
Blasting food packages with electron beams to destroy SARS-coV-2
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1995820X22001821?via%3Dihub
Database of SARS-CoV-2 and coronaviruses kinetics relevant for assessing persistence in food processing plants
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41597-022-01763-y
The survival of viral particles on different foods and food packaging, from the UK’s FSA. Cheddar cheese and sliced ham inoculated with the virus and stored at refrigerator conditions had virus levels that “remained high” for at least a week.
https://www.food.gov.uk/research/survival-of-sars-cov-2-on-food-surfaces-abbreviations-and-codes
Free Guidance Document – Industry Guide to Good Hygiene Practice (Catering)
The free guide is published by the group UK Hospitality and is recognised by national food safety authorities in the United Kingdom. It has been updated to include new sections on food crime, surplus food and donating food to charity, freezing and defrosting food and the shelf life of vacuum-packed meats.
Free Webinar: Food Analysis for Non-Analysts 7th Dec
Hosted by the IFST and the Food Authenticity Network, “This webinar reviews the basic principles behind the analytical procedures commonly used to test foods in the food industry including food manufacture, ingredient supply and retail. The aim is not to focus on all the different tests or how they should be undertaken, but to provide a practical guide for food factory teams who commission analytical work plus giving an over. In addition, the webinar will bring together experts from three leading laboratories who will describe analytical innovations that have practical applications in the food industry.”
Note the event is free, but the registration page makes it seem like you have to be a IFST member to attend, which is not the case.
