Food has become an important category for retailers trying to cope with a tight-fisted consumer in a prolonged recession, but it can be a risky business, particularly as stores take on more direct responsibility for delivering to the public products that can cause serious illness.
Over the past week or two, Kroger particularly has gotten pounded and has had to run a series of recalls that raised consumer concerns. Kroger got burned on beef contamination almost exactly a year ago, so this particular run of luck has to be particularly disheartening.
Perishable …

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration needs to improve its oversight of vitamins and other dietary supplements as reports of consumers experiencing side effects continue to rise, a government report concluded.
The FDA must be given additional power to require more information from supplement manufacturers each year, including an updated list of all products sold, the Government Accountability Office said in its findings released on Monday.
Agency officials also should better educate consumers as well as offer the industry advice about using new ingredients and marketing their products, the …

The growing share of imported foods in U.S. supermarkets and restaurants presents new challenges for food safety regulators and private decision makers (Becker, 2008b). While the U.S. food supply is still overwhelmingly from domestic sources, the share of imported foods has grown steadily (Jerardo). The growing presence of imported foods reflects various trends: seasonal demands for produce from warm-weather regions; rising consumer demand for ethnic food, beverages, and spices; integration of nontraditional regions into global supply chains; and falling agricultural trade barriers. China is one of the most prominent examples …

Today’s life good health is a major topic. Everyone wants to live happy with good health. Take healthy food is the best way for it. But some people think that healthy foods are so boring and tasteless. While healthy food means your daily food which you take regularly, but prepare it a little different way.
Healthy food is pleasant for the taste. The natural food with taste is the healthier for you. Packaged food is not good for your good health so avoid it. This kind of food is convenient but …

Public health would not be harmed if the maximum level of aflatoxins permitted in all tree nuts was increased by 150 per cent, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has said.
The European food safety watchdog’s Scientific Panel on Contaminants in the Food Chain (CONTAM) made the announcement as it recommended raising maximum levels of the toxic mould from 4µ/kg to 10µg/kg for all tree nuts.Aflatoxins can occur in food and feed as a result of fungal contamination by moulds, primarily by Aspergillus flavus and A. parasiticus under warm and humid …

Yesterday, Kunming’s Food Safety Commission made its mid-year report on food safety and inspection. According to the briefing, 62,192 establishments were inspected under special regulations regarding misuse of food additives and non-food additives.
Recent food safety scares, most notably the melamine cases of 2008, have raised the profile of food safety issues.
According to the report, this year the Kunming Agriculture Bureau carried out special monitoring of veterinary drugs and illegal animal feed additives. Samples from Kunming’s 14 counties and city districts all gave negative results for Clenbuterol, a pig feed additive …

The Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) concluded a week-long meeting and adopted more than 30 new international standards, codes of practice and guidelines to improve worldwide food safety and protect the health of consumers.
New standards adopted by the Commission include:
Reduction of acrylamide in food
The Commission approved measures for reducing the formation of acrylamide in food. The code of practice will provide national and local authorities, manufacturers and others with guidance to prevent and reduce formation of acrylamide in potato products during all phases of the production process. The guidance includes strategies …

Even if you’re not a fan of nonfat dry milk you should pay attention to a number of recalls being made by the Food and Drug Administration because the tainted milk—or related milk products—can appear as an ingredient in foods you do like such as popcorn, hot cereal and cocoa.
Giant, Kroger, Meijer, Stop & Shop and other well-known retailers have recalled a variety of foods made over the past two years with ingredients provided by Plainview Milk Products Cooperative in Plainview, Minn., because they might be contaminated with salmonella. Malt-O-Meal …

We were selling at a Farmers Market and an elderly farmer’s wife stopped by to look at our offerings.  She looked at our “Organic” sign and said “Honey, we’ve been growing organic since before you were born,” and if you know anything about the green revolution after World War 2 you can understand her statement.  Before the invention of ammonium nitrate for bombs, farmers relied basically on organic means to grow their vegetables.  We went from every community having a fresh food market to almost none.  Before the establishment of …

And another piece of legislation involving, surprise surprise, Waxman. Read the full text of H.R. 2749: Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009.
The Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund has an extensive discussion here.
Here’s some highlights:
1. The FSEA would require facilities to register annually [section 101(b)(1)–p. 3], rather than a one-time registration. Registrants would also be required to pay an annual fee of $500, to be adjusted for inflation [section 101, Part6, sec 743(b)(1)(A)–p. 10].
2. The term “facility” does not include “farms” for purposes of registration in either the current law or under …