Contamination of food, beverages, and water includes physical, chemical, and microbiological concerns, as well as allergens (the Big 9, formerly the Big 8).
Chemical contamination of food, beverages, and water include chemicals used in the growing or production of food, such as pesticides or veterinary drugs, as well as chemicals present in sanitizers, cleaning solutions, coatings, and packaging.
Physical contamination of food and beverages encompasses foreign material that makes its way into product at some point during growing, harvesting, storage, manufacturing, processing, or distribution.
Microbiological contamination of food encompasses bacterial pathogens, such as Listeria monocytogenes, Escherichia coli (E.coli), Salmonella, Cronobacter, and many other pathogens that can contaminate food at any point during the supply chain, causing foodborne illness. This category also includes foodborne parasites.
Allergens in food include the Big 9 (formerly the Big 8): milk, eggs, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat (gluten), soybeans, and sesame as of January 2023. Big 9 food allergens and residues in food are grounds for a Class 1 recall.
Designated by the European Commission, Denmark and Sweden have formed a public health consortium to jointly establish an EU reference laboratory or antimicrobial resistance (AMR), which will contribute to diagnostics and infection preparedness.
Addressing concerns around brominated flame retardants in the environment and food, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is updating its decade-old risk assessments on different families of the chemicals. EFSA has launched a public consultation regarding the draft scientific opinion on the update of the risk assessment of tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA) and its derivatives in food.
With funding from the Center for Produce Safety, a researcher from the University of Arizona is exploring the usefulness of a handheld genetic sequencing device for in-field microbial characterization of irrigation water by the produce industry.
NASEM has completed a study to better understand the nutritional benefits of seafood consumption versus the health hazards posed by contaminants like toxic heavy metals. The study fulfills a request from FDA, partly in a Closer to Zero effort to answer questions about mercury exposure. A webinar about the findings will be held on March 26, 2024.
PFAS are sometimes used in pesticides as active substances or co-formulants. An analysis of EU pesticide residue monitoring data by Pesticide Action Network Europe shows that the average proportion of produce containing PFAS pesticide residues in the EU has nearly tripled over the last decade.
Following the wave of state-level legislation on food additives cropping up across the U.S., two bills have been introduced in Pennsylvania to prohibit nine chemicals from being used as food additives in the state. Additionally, Kentucky wrote a resolution urging FDA to mandate a prohibition on U.S. food manufacturers producing or selling food containing harmful ingredients that have been banned by several other countries.
The Environmental Working Group (EWG) has published its Dirty Dozen list for 2024, describing the 12 fruits and vegetables most contaminated with pesticide residues, alongside its Clean Fifteen list, which contains the 15 commodities with the lowest amounts of pesticide residue.
Researchers recently demonstrated the inadequacy of an industry standard quality test—Laboratory Pasteurization Count—for raw, organic milk, as it cannot sufficiently differentiate between groups of bacteria.
Scientists from USDA’s Agricultural Research Service are exploring how “transgenerational protection”—which is the ability of layer hens to pass along their resistance to Salmonella to their broiler chicks—can be encouraged, to ultimately reduce early colonization that introduces microbial contamination at the processing plant and poses a food safety risk to consumers.
Researchers have created a coating for galvanized steel food containers that repels bacteria and fungi, is mud-resistant, and reduces the risk of corrosion.
On Demand: From this webinar, attendees will learn how to implement a program to control allergens in food processing facilities and prevent allergen cross-contact.
On Demand: In this webinar, technical experts will explain what a system breach is, how to manage and reduce system breaches, and how to design breaches out of a system to help prevent pathogen contamination in dry and low-moisture environments.