Food Safety News - 05/12/2021

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New Jersey school district closes doors after foodborne outbreak By News Desk on May 12, 2021 12:05 am A current foodborne outbreak has caused the closure of school buildings for at least two weeks in Camden County, NJ. On May 6, the district’s employees experienced symptoms of foodborne illness after attending a luncheon catered by an outside vendor. As of the posting of this article, the exact pathogen is still unknown. However, the... Continue Reading California’s congressional Democrats do not want Prop 12 reviewed by high court By News Desk on May 12, 2021 12:04 am Fear of a Supreme Court review of California’s Proposition 12 has set the state’s congressional Democrats on a different strategy. They want the amicus curiae briefs the federal government was planning to drop in North American Meat Institute v. Becerra in the Supreme Court and National Pork Producers Council v. Ross in the 9th Circuit. And in... Continue Reading Study shows bacon, cured pork are risk factors for Hepatitis E By Joe Whitworth on May 12, 2021 12:03 am Bacon and other cured pork meats have been identified as risk factors for hepatitis E virus (HEV) in England by researchers. They found consuming bacon, cured pork meats, and pigs’ liver were significantly associated with HEV infection, confirming previous links to processed pork products. Scientists investigated risk factors for HEV infections in the blood donor... Continue Reading Problems with fish, papaya, other fresh produce initiate holds at U.S. borders By News Desk on May 12, 2021 12:02 am The Food and Drug Administration uses import alerts to enforce U.S. food safety regulations for food from foreign countries. The agency updates and modifies the alerts as needed. Recent modifications to FDA’s import alerts, as posted by the agency, are listed below. Click here to go to the FDA page with links for specific details... Continue Reading ANSES sets value to protect people from emerging toxin in shellfish By News Desk on May 12, 2021 12:00 am A French agency has proposed a guideline value to protect consumers of shellfish from a group of marine biotoxins. The French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety (ANSES) said brevetoxins (BTX) were first detected in mussels in Corsica in 2018. If ingested by humans, these toxins can cause neurological, gastrointestinal or cardiovascular... Continue Reading Food safety management system critical for restaurants By Chris Koger on May 11, 2021 07:54 pm While having food safety policies that include hand washing, use of gloves and sanitation of surfaces is critical in combating norovirus outbreaks at restaurants, implementing a food safety management system that oversees and documents those policies is the best course of action. Norovirus experts detailed best practices for restaurants today during an online panel, “Restaurant... Continue Reading New testing program seeks to shed light on leafy greens outbreaks By News Desk on May 11, 2021 06:44 pm The Food and Drug Administration announced today that it will be collecting and testing samples of lettuce grown in California’s Salinas Valley from local commercial coolers from May through November 2021. The agency will test the samples for Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC), including E. coli O157:H7, and Salmonella spp. as part of ongoing surveillance... Continue Reading Keynote speaker covers roles of food safety staff during pandemic By Coral Beach on May 11, 2021 01:21 pm Food safety professionals were already “in the belly of the beast” before the coronavirus pandemic hit and they continue to be in the hot seat, according to Craig Wilson of Costco. Wilson gave the keynote address this morning at the 2021 Food Safety Summit. The virtual session today, May 11, attracted about 400 attendees and... Continue Reading Frank Busta receives Distinguished Service Award at the 2021 Food Safety Summit By News Desk on May 11, 2021 12:24 pm The Distinguished Service Award was given to Frank Busta, Ph.D. this morning to kick off the 2021 Food Safety Summit. Busta is the director emeritus of the National Center for Food Protection and Defense (NCFPD; now Food Protection & Defense Institute) and Professor Emeritus of food microbiology at the University of Minnesota. He was named the... Continue Reading