In the absence of food safety regulations in many commodities or the lack of oversight in general, companies have turned to the private regulation of the food supply. On an individual and voluntary basis, dozens of auditing firms and hundreds of private parties are looking closely at the safety of thousands of suppliers. The supplier-food…

With both the New York Times and the Atlanta Journal Constitution reporting on inspections and audits, audit company auditors and the third party food safety scheme are coming under fire. There is ample evidence that both the third party audit model and regulatory inspection model have deficiencies, as brought out by the most recent PCA incident…

The food safety net just showed us another huge tear as the result of contaminated peanut butter products. The problem will be felt for years in the peanut industry and will likely change the food safety landscape in many ways.

The government reaction has been harsh and focused in this latest deadly outbreak. More…

No one disputes the fact that our food safety net has several gaping holes. Like clockwork, one can seemingly depend on a major foodborne illness outbreak to occur every few weeks. This month it is peanut butter, again, a few months back it was peppers and tomatoes, before that potpies, veggie snacks, canned chili, etc…

Public health policy and food protection are issues that we expect the new Obama administration to address eagerly. Financial problems, wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and Home Land Security have shifted focus away from our core public health agenda, and now is the time to return our focus. Everyone agrees that public health programs have suffered in the last eight…

This outbreak is an example of scombroid poisoning. Scombroid enterotoxin is actually a heat stable bi-product of histamine, and results when dark-fleshed fish begin to decompose. Its one of the few illnesses through food that have a correlation directly to spoilage although there may be others (certain strains of C botulinum). Because the symptoms…

In a recent message to its members, Food and Water Watch says:

“Protecting Our Food: End Food Industry Self-Policing”. Consumers need strong standards and strong enforcement by government inspectors. The USDA must abandon attempts to let meat plants do their own inspections. The Food and Drug Administration needs new authority and resources to…

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