As part of its enforcement activities, the Food and Drug Administration sends warning letters to entities under its jurisdiction. Some letters are not posted for public view until weeks or months after they are sent. Business owners have 15 days to respond to FDA warning letters. Warning letters often are not issued until a company has been given months to years to correct problems. Raw Juicery Inc. Los Angeles A juice company in Los Angeles…

Authorities in Ireland and New Zealand have issued warnings about consumption of collected shellfish in the past week. The Marine Institute in Ireland detected amounts of naturally occurring compounds in shellfish that can cause illness in consumers. Increased levels have been found in recent weeks during a routine nationwide shellfish monitoring program along the South West and West coasts. Toxins are diarrheic shellfish poisoning (DSP) which can lead to temporary gastroenteritis-like illness and a less…

Implementation of food safety management systems helped reduce outbreaks in food catering in Singapore, according to a study. However, reported food hygiene violations did not change after they were applied. HACCP-based food safety management systems (FSMS) were mandated in Singapore in June 2014 for all licensed catering services. Researchers investigated the effects of FSMS implementation on foodborne disease outbreaks and reported hygiene violations linked to food caterers using a controlled interrupted time-series analysis. Results were…

Many Americans will be celebrating the Fourth of July outdoors this year a little differently, with celebrations at home, including backyard barbecues and picnics perhaps with only your household. No matter how you’re celebrating the Fourth of July, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) encourages you to make food safety and other public health recommendations a part of your celebration. “Foodborne illness can increase during summer because of the…

A dairy owner and company have been sentenced in New Zealand for processing and selling potentially hazardous goat meat. The dairy owner, Ananda Krishna, was convicted and was sentenced to 200 hours of community work. The business, Shop ND Save Limited, was fined NZ$2,250 (U.S. $1,460) at Christchurch District Court. The 54-year-old and the company pleaded guilty to three charges under the Animal Products Act 1999 because of three food safety concerns. They were improper…

Opinion Despite what you might think, America’s broken campaign finance system is about more than expensive ads flooding your screen and glossy mailers clogging your mailbox. The outsized role of money in politics has a real-world impact, with elected officials too often prioritizing the interests of a wealthy donor class and leaving many people behind. Senators Warren and Booker have rightly called for answers from the meat packing heads of Tysons, Smithfield, JBS and Cargill, on their…