Food News for March 2021

Mar 25, 2021

Food News for March 2021

Happy Spring!

Federal Food News

The USDA announced the appointment of Sandra Eskin for their new deputy undersecretary for food safety. She joins the USDA from being food safety project director for The Pew Charitable Trusts and she is a veteran consumer protection advocate who understands the nuances of food safety regulations. It is great to have a consumer advocate in this position rather someone from the food industry. She will complement Frank Yannis, FDA’s Deputy Commissioner for Food Policy and Response, who has experience from industry. A great choice by the USDA.

The FDA released a “Letter to Industry on Chemical Hazards, including Toxic Elements, in Food and Update on FDA Efforts to Increase the Safety of Foods for Babies and Young Children” in which they shared the results of their testing to reassure parents and caregivers that at the levels they found that children are not at an immediate health risk from exposure to toxic elements in foods. Baby and toddler food manufacturers and processors have responsibility to consider risks from chemical hazards, including toxic elements, when they are considering the food safety hazards under federal regulations. Schedule a free call today to be certain that you are considering all the potential hazards in your food and controlling for them.

Outbreaks

There were a number of outbreaks and recalls. The most significant is the ongoing recall of El Albuelito cheese causing Listeria monocytogenes. Eleven people were ill and one person died due to this outbreak. Currently El Albuelito has ceased production during an on-going investigation. Don’t let this be you or your company! It is very easy to lose track of your food safety data. Book a call today so we can make sure data is organized and collected correctly.

Additionally in March FSIS announced a two health warnings and recalls due to lack of inspection. I wrote about these in recent Food Crumbs; pasta recall and meat public health alert. This last one is not a recall because the FSIS believe the meat is no longer available for purchase. Make sure that you are being inspected before selling food! Schedule a call if you aren’t certain who inspects you.

Subcommittees of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee

The 117th Congress will have five subcommittees. I am pleased to see that there is one subcommittee, chaired by NJ Senator Cory Booker, on Food and Nutrition, Specialty Crops, Organics, and Research and another one chaired by NY Senator Kirsten Gillibrand on Livestock, Dairy, Poultry, Local Food Systems, and Food Safety and Security. It is great news that the senate agriculture committee recognized that food and nutrition, the food safety and local food systems are important. Given my interest in all four topics, I wish they were represented by one sub-committee. Fortunately, Cory Booker serves on the Livestock, Dairy, Poultry, Local Food Systems, and Food Safety and Security and Kirsten Gillibrand serves on the Food and Nutrition, Specialty Crops, Organics, and Research so hopefully there will be lots of joint discussions. I hope we can see the 117th Congress do as much as possible to support safe and healthy food and local and regional food systems.

Daily Food Crumb

You can keep up to date with my food news by subscribing to my daily Food Crumb. I love the exercise of taking a complex food issue and making it approachable in a few sentences. The articles posted here are very short, one or two paragraphs, on very current food safety or food systems news. Sign up here.