Nonprofit activist group, STOP Foodborne Illness, has announced that the organization has finalized recommendations to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to modernize the nation’s food recall system.  The recommendations, titled “Collaborative Plan to Achieve Customer-Focused Recall Modernization,” outline the steps needed for the U.S. to improve its recall process. STOP Foodborne Illness sees the current recall process as antiquated and disjointed. The nation’s food recall system hasn’t been enhanced in five years. But last…

California carrot giant Grimmway Farms is recalling several varieties of baby and shredded carrots after a test showed possible Salmonella contamination. Organic and conventional products are implicated. “The recall was initiated as a result of a routine, internal company test,” said Grimmway Farms President and CEO Jeff Huckaby. “The health of our customers and the integrity of our products are our highest priorities, and we will continue to monitor and communicate as additional information is…

More than 15,000 tons of food and drink worth $60 million has been seized globally in operations targeting fake and potentially dangerous products. Operation Opson X involved 72 countries between December 2020 and June 2021. The annual drive is coordinated by Interpol and Europol and featured police, customs, national food regulatory authorities and private sector companies. In total, 15,451 tons of illegal products were found with an estimated street value of €53.8 million ($63.3 million). Nearly 68,000…

The FDA has initiated traceback efforts in an investigation of an E. coli outbreak and updated the patient toll in a Cyclospora outbreak. The agency did not name a commodity in the traceback announcement related to the E. Coli outbreak. A checkmark in the traceback column on the Food and Drug Administration’s weekly outbreak table is the only information available to the public. As of this past week the E. coli outbreak had sickened…

The number of people diagnosed with a foodborne illness in Denmark fell sharply in 2020, according to an annual report on infections. The report by the National Food Institute, Technical University of Denmark, Statens Serum Institut (SSI) and the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration (Fødevarestyrelsen) found Coronavirus pandemic restrictions played a role in the decline. A significant reduction in travel was listed as the primary reason for the sharp decrease in patients. It was also…

The table below shows outbreak investigations being managed by FDA’s CORE Response Teams. The investigations are in a variety of stages. Some outbreaks have limited information with investigations ongoing, others may be near completion or concluded. The Food and Drug Administration will issue public health advisories for outbreak investigations that result in “specific, actionable steps for consumers — such as throwing out or avoiding specific foods — to take to protect themselves,” according to the…

PHOENIX — If there was one thing to take away from Tuesday’s session on the food safety concerns of plant-based ‘meat,” it’s that it’s not meat and can’t be approached in exactly the same way. The session “Novel Foods, Novel Challenges: Food Safety Concerns in Plant-based, Cell-Cultured, and ‘Clean Label’ Products” at the IAFP 2021 conference here featured presentations on how companies need to approach food safety concerns when it comes to novel foods, particularly…