This is a new Food Safety News feature debuting today. On Mondays, we will provide an overview of the previous week’s content and add some previews of coming attractions or potential news developments expected in the near future.
In case you missed it, here are some of the top food safety stories from last week:
Cucumber Calamity Continues: Last week, the Salmonella Poona infections linked to Mexican cucumbers numbered 418 people from 31 states, with two deaths and 91 hospitalizations being reported so far.
FSIS Consumer Alert: USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) issued a consumer alert that frozen, raw, stuffed and breaded chicken products produced by Aspen Foods had the same Salmonella Enteritidis outbreak strain as products the company recalled in mid-July.
FSIS stated that sampling had alerted the agency to a “systemic problem” at the production facility and that FSIS would detain any of the products found in commerce because the company has refused to recall them.
Listeria Link: The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), along with FDA and state health officials, managed to link Listeria cases going back five years to consumption of soft cheeses by using whole genome sequencing. There are five rare DNA fingerprints in this investigation, and the strains including them are closely related genetically, the agency stated.
In FDA News: President Obama nominated Dr. Robert Califf to be the next FDA Commissioner. On Wednesday, Acting FDA Commissioner Stephen Ostroff and Deputy Commissioner for Foods and Veterinary Medicine Michael Taylor appeared before the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee to discuss the Food Safety Modernization Act.
Antibiotics Awareness: A report grading fast food chains on their antibiotics policies and sourcing practices made lots of headlines. Spoiler alert: Most of the 25 chains failed.
Pathogen Rankings: Our list of the five most dangerous foodborne pathogens includes Listeria, Salmonella, Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC), Vibrio vulnificus and Clostridium botulinum.
Coming Up This Week:
Three of the five defendants in the Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) criminal case are scheduled to be sentenced today — Monday, Sept. 21 — so stay tuned for ongoing coverage from FSN Executive Editor Dan Flynn.
The third part of our five-part special series on FSMA will post on Tuesday: “New Era in Food Safety: What Companies Must Do,” by Jennifer McEntire & Shannon Cooksey of the Grocery Manufacturers Association.
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