Pests hide wherever food residue, moisture, warmth and access points converge. In food processing facilities, those conditions appear every day in loading docks, floor drains, equipment voids and ingredient storage. A proactive Integrated Pest Management (IPM) program is the FDA-aligned standard for identifying and eliminating those conditions before they trigger a compliance issue or failed audit
The updated compliance program will focus exclusively on monitoring pesticide residues in foods. To reflect this, the program has been renamed “Pesticides in Human Foods – Domestic and Import.”
New investigation is the first to trace microplastics and plastic chemicals from plastic packaging into baby food. The testing commissioned by Greenpeace International in 2025 found plastic particles in the baby food products of two global consumer goods companies – Danone and Nestlé. The study suggests a link between the type of plastic the pouches are lined with – polyethylene – and some of the microplastics found.
Food safety programs are often evaluated through the events they document, yet many organizations carry significant operating cost in the events that continue returning under different names, departments, and corrective actions as part of normal work. This article examines the financial impact of recurrence, including decision latency, the labor absorbed by the hidden factory of repeated remediation, and the institutional knowledge that walks out the door before the system can hold it. Many of those costs remain invisible to conventional budgeting. Recognizing recurrence as a structural signal can help organizations recover operating capacity already present in the records they keep.
The discussion paper includes information and questions to help inform FDA’s engagements with stakeholders, including the upcoming virtual FDA-led public meeting on June 15th.
This work will inform the agency’s upcoming post-market safety assessment of the food contact uses of phthalates, which is part of the agency’s commitment to ensuring that chemicals in the U.S. food supply remain safe as new scientific information becomes available.
Allergen cross-contact is a significant safety risk in multi-product food facilities, and conveyor design plays a direct role in reducing residue retention and supporting effective sanitation. Precision stainless steel belt offer flat, nonporous surface control, while wire mesh belts provide hygienic airflow, drainage and wash-through cleaning benefits. Selecting the right conveyor system strengthens allergen control and improves operational efficiency.
High-production facilities with thousands of containers processed per hour require depalletizing methods and equipment with high throughput and gentle handling. This is necessary to prevent container damage and reduce foreign material and contamination.
As the Acting Deputy Commissioner for Food, Dr. Prater leads the agency’s Human Foods Program, overseeing all FDA nutrition and food safety activities
At the core of One Health Diagnostics® is a shift from testing alone to connected diagnostics ecosystems, delivering actionable insights that drive smarter, faster and more sustainable decision-making.
