Undeclared Allergens Continue to Serve as a Primary Factor in Product Recalls

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In the fourth quarter of 2014, undeclared allergens accounted for 50 percent of all FDA food-related recalled units and 83 percent of USDA recalled units.

In the past few months, retailers pulled hundreds of products from shelves after a spice supplier found traces of peanut proteins in their cumin spice – an ingredient that dozens of manufacturers use in products across the country.

Stericycle-Recall-March-2015

Ramifications from the recall, which began in December, still occur daily; over two months after the spice supplier first identified the issue. To some the recall may seem miniscule, however, to the nearly 15 million Americans the CDC says has food allergies, undeclared allergens can be a life-threatening scare.

Despite increasing regulations and industry scrutiny, undeclared allergens continue to serve as a primary cause of food recalls in the U.S. According to the latest Stericycle Recall Index, in the fourth quarter of 2014, undeclared allergens accounted for 50 percent of all FDA food-related recalled units and 83 percent of USDA recalled units.

According to FDA, the most common foods involved in food allergen recalls are bakery products, snack foods, candy, dairy products and dressings. The FDA also identifies the most common allergens causing the recalls as milk, wheat and soy.

Undeclared allergen recalls are often a result of a simple manufacturing operational error, such as mislabeling, mis-packaging or unintentional cross-contamination. In the U.S., manufacturers of FDA regulated foods are required to identify major food allergens on the label; if mistakes occur in manufacturing, companies may be subject to a product recall.

As recent recalls show, the more complex the supply chain, the more complex product recalls become. Globalization of the supply chain also complicates recalls, especially when regulatory agencies from multiple countries have different recall mandates. The Stericycle Recall Index highlights some of these unique challenges in the global supply chain, including accessibility to remote areas.

Companies with proactive recall strategies in place can navigate their supply chain with ease when a supplier or an undeclared allergen issue arises. Having these processes identified prior to an event can save valuable time, money and help a company maintain regulatory compliance, while also concentrating on future growth.

Click here to access the report.

No Industry Fees for FSMA – Food Groups Write to Congress

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A coalition of nearly 60 food groups, has now written to the Congress, urging the Senate and House of Representatives to fund the Food and Drug Administration without introducing new fees to the food industry.

The Obama administration budget proposal for fiscal year 2016 includes a proposal to impose a food facility registration and inspection fee to fund agency activities related to the Food Safety Modernization Act. The agency projects it would collect $60 million in fiscal year 2016. A food import fee was also proposed, with projected revenues of $103 million in FY 2016.

A coalition of nearly 60 food groups, has now written to the Congress, urging the Senate and House of Representatives to fund the Food and Drug Administration without introducing new fees to the food industry. The group — including the United Fresh Produce Association, the Food Marketing Institute and the American Farm Bureau Federation — is arguing that the new fees will hurt food producers and consumers.

Delivered before the March 4 House Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations subcommittee hearing, the letter explained that Congress has previously rejected efforts to impose new regulatory fees on food makers and distributors to fund FDA’s food safety programs and should do so again.

“We believe if FDA requires additional funds in FY 2016 to support food inspection activities and implementation of the Food Safety Modernization Act, the administration should seek all such funding through the Congressional budget and appropriations process, rather than asking for authorization of new regulatory taxes that Congress has repeatedly rejected,” the letter said.

McDonald’s to Eliminate Antibiotics from Chicken

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The largest fast food chain has committed to serve chicken raised without antibiotics within two years.

McDonald’s – the world’s largest fast food chain – today announced that it is committing to serving chicken raised without antibiotics used in human medicine in all of their U.S. restaurants within two years.

This comes on the heels of new leadership for the company. Steve Easterbrook began as CEO of McDonald’s on Monday, and brings to the role a legacy of healthier food and environmental initiatives within the company’s United Kingdom division.

“We’re listening to our customers,” Marion Gross, senior vice president of McDonald’s North American supply chain, told Reuters. She said the company is working with its domestic chicken suppliers, including Tyson Foods Inc, to make the transition.

Today’s announcement marks a big step forward in protecting the effectiveness of medically important antibiotics for people, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). Jonathan Kaplan, director of NRDC’s Food and Agriculture program, says that “by the country’s largest fast food chain committing to working with their suppliers to keep these drugs out of the barns used to raise the chickens for their nuggets, salads and sandwiches, they are setting the bar for the entire fast food industry. (This) may be at a tipping point for better antibiotic stewardship in the poultry industry.”

Whenever an antibiotic is administered, scientists and public health experts worry that it can kill weaker bacteria and enable the strongest to survive and multiply. Frequent use of low-dose antibiotics, a practice used by some meat producers, can intensify that effect. This can support the development of so-called superbugs, who develop cross-resistance to critical, medically important antibiotics. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, such superbugs are linked to an estimated 23,000 human deaths and 2 million illnesses every year in the United States, and up to $20 billion in direct healthcare costs.

Is Beneful Dog Food Poisoning Pets?

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A lawsuit filed in Northern CA claims that the dog food was responsible for sickening three dogs – and killing one of them; concerns have been raised about some of the ingredients such as propylene glycol and mycotoxins.

A class-action lawsuit filed in a District Court in Northern District of California claims that Nestle’s Purina PetCare Company’s Beneful dry kibble dog food has sickened – and even killed – thousands of dogs.

According to the lawsuit filed by Frank Lucido of Discovery Bay, CA, since the family began feeding their three dogs Beneful in late December 2014 or early January 2015, all of them became ill, and one died. Internal bleeding in the stomach and liver lesions were was revealed during the post-mortem examination of the dog that died, while similar symptoms were found in the other two dogs, a German Shepherd and a Labrador Retriever.

Nestlé Purina has retaliated describing the lawsuit as “baseless,” adding that two similar class-action lawsuits earlier had been dismissed by the courts. Bill Salzman, the company’s director of corporation communications said that: “Beneful is occasionally the subject of social media-driven misinformation. Online postings often contain false, unsupported and misleading allegations that cause undue concern and confusion for our Beneful customers. Bottom line: Consumers can continue to feed Beneful with total confidence.”

There are concerns raised in the lawsuit about ingredients in the dog food such as propylene glycol and mycotoxins, stating that the first one is a known animal toxin and a component of antifreeze, and mycotoxins, produced by mold found in grains, are a health risk to dogs. However, the company states that the type propylene glycol it uses is FDA-approved, and the type that’s used in human foods such as salad dressing and cake mix.

Following Lucido’s story, Jeff Cereghino, of Ram, Olson, Cereghino & Kopczynski in San Francisco, checked further and saw a much widespread pattern among several pet owners. “Several folks were trying to draw exactly the same causal link. Thousands,” said Cereghino, in San Francisco.

The lawsuit has raised concerns among pet owners. Veterinarians have advised those who are concerned to be aware of common poisoning symptoms and bring any concerns to their family vet.

Lucido’s lawsuit is alleging negligence, misrepresentation, product liability and unfair business practices on the part of Nestlé Purina and is reportedly seeking more than $5 million in damages, plus costs and fees.

Food Safety Testing Market to Reach $15 B by 2019

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The global food safety testing market is set to be driven by the worldwide increase in outbreaks of foodborne illness and implementation of more stringent food safety regulations, according to new market report that segments the data by Contaminant, Technology, Product Type and Region.

Foodborne illness arises mainly due to food contamination through improper handling, under-cooking, or improper food storage. An increase in the globalized food trade in recent years, increase in food inspection personnel to investigate outbreaks, and improvements in screening for and detecting contaminants in food imported from other countries are factors that impact the market. These reasons put a huge pressure on food companies to ensure food safety, which then led to the implementation of food safety management systems.

Today, food safety testing by manufacturers or distributors has become a necessity, and any failure on their part can result in an outbreak of food poisoning. Food safety testing can be performed on various food types to evaluate their toxicity levels through rapid or traditional methods. The rapid method includes PCR-based assay, immuno-based assay, and other convenience real-time kits for quick and better results.

FSTestingmarketFeb2015These factors are contributing to the growth of the global food safety testing market, driven by the worldwide increase in outbreaks of foodborne illness and implementation of stringent food safety regulations.

A new market report segments the food safety testing market by Contaminant (Pathogen, GMO, Toxin, Pesticide, Others), Technology (Traditional & Rapid), Food Type (Meat & Poultry, Dairy, Fruit & Vegetable, Convenience Food, Others) & Region.

The report projects that this market is projected to reach $15,040.7 million by 2019.

In 2013, the market was dominated by North America, followed by Europe. The Asia-Pacific market is projected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period.

The food safety testing market is diversified and competitive, with a large number of players. Some of the key players in the market include SGS S.A. (Switzerland), Intertek Group Plc. (U.K.), Eurofins Scientific (Luxembourg), Silliker, Inc. (U.S.), and Bureau Veritas S.A. (France).

This report projects the market size, in terms of value ($million) and volume (million tests). It provides both qualitative and quantitative analyses of the food safety testing market, the competitive landscape, and the preferred development strategies of key players. Key players were observed to prefer new product launches & developments, agreements, partnerships & joint ventures, acquisitions, and expansions & investments as strategies to gain a larger share in the market. The report also analyzes the market dynamics, winning imperatives, and issues faced by the leading players.

The report also adds that a lack of food control infrastructure and testing laboratories in developing countries restrain the growth of the food safety testing market.

For more information on this report, click here.

U.S. Needs to Rework its “Byzantine Food Safety System”

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If anything is more complicated than our food, it’s our government’s system for checking its safety, describes an LA Times editorial, supporting the recent proposal to create a single, unified Food Safety Administration.

The job of keeping our food wholesome has become more difficult as food itself has become more complicated, as more processed foods include ingredients from many sources, making it hard to trace the origin of pathogens. For instance, a package of ground beef today is no longer put together by a butcher pushing a single hunk of meat through a grinder, but includes trimmings from many cattle and multiple slaughterhouses. Thus, even a small quantity of meat contaminated with E. coli has the potential to taint tremendous amounts of hamburger meat sent out across the country, describes an editorial in the LA Times.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, food poisoning sickens more than 80 million people a year in this country, killing 5,000, sending 325,000 to the hospital and, according to a 2012 study in the Journal of Food Protection, costing $14 billion — which doesn’t take into account the cost of lawsuits and recalls.

The LA Times article criticizes the “byzantine system” for ensuring food safety: “At least 15 agencies are involved, but sorting out the responsibilities of just the two main ones — the Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Agriculture — is hard enough,” it describes, citing examples of frozen pizza (where the cheese is inspected by the USDA, while other ingredients and toppings by FDA), and eggs (USDA while responsible for eggs out of the shell — and for grading eggs in the shell for shape and uniformity, don’t fully take into account conditions of the egg product facilities).

Recently, based on recommendations, President Obama has proposed a unified Food Safety Administration within the Department of Health and Human Services, and the article describes this as a smarter, more efficient and effective way to protect American consumers.

Food Safety Agencies Introduce New Model to Better Identify Foodborne Illness Sources

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FDA, CDC and the USDA’s FSIS have jointly released a report on the new method for analyzing outbreak data to identify better foods that are responsible for illness related to four major foodborne bacteria.

Titled “Foodborne Illness Source Attribution Estimates forSalmonella, Escherichia coli O157 (E. coliO157), Listeria monocytogenes (Lm), and Campylobacter using Outbreak Surveillance Data,” the report was produced by the Interagency Food Safety Analytics Collaboration (IFSAC).

FSTNewsNewModelforOutbreaks For the new model, IFSAC analyzed data from nearly 1,000 outbreaks that occurred between 1998 and 2012, excluding those that involved multiple pathogens, those for which no food vehicle was identified, and those attributed to food containing multiple ingredients, to assess which categories of foods were most responsible for making people sick with Salmonella, E. coli O157, Listeria, and Campylobacter.

The pathogens were chosen because of the frequency or severity of the illnesses they cause, and because targeted interventions can have a significant impact in reducing them. Some of the findings include:

  • More than 80 percent of E. coli O157 illnesses were attributed to beef and vegetable row crops, such as leafy vegetables.
  • Salmonella illnesses were broadly attributed across food commodities, with 77 percent of illnesses related to seeded vegetables (such as tomatoes), eggs, fruits, chicken, beef, sprouts and pork.
  • Nearly 75 percent of Campylobacter illnesses were attributed to dairy (66 percent) and chicken (8 percent). Most of the dairy outbreaks used in the analysis were related to raw milk or cheese produced from raw milk, such as unpasteurized queso fresco.
  • More than 80 percent of Listeria illnesses were attributed to fruit (50 percent) and dairy (31 percent). Data were sparse for Listeria, and the estimate for fruit reflects the impact of a single large outbreak linked to cantaloupes in 2011.

The new model using data from the resulting 952 outbreaks differs from previous methods by using a categorization of foods updated to align with the regulatory framework of FDA and FSIS. The model focuses more on recent outbreaks by giving less weight to data from 1998 through 2007, and decreasing the bias that potentially results from very large outbreaks.

“This suggests interventions designed to reduce foodborne salmonellosis need to include a variety of approaches,” IFSAC’s report states. “For [Listeria monocytogenes], the limited number of outbreaks and wide credibility intervals dictate caution in interpreting the attribution percentages for fruit and dairy,” the report notes.

The report also noted that “Lm outbreaks have been frequently linked to the Dairy category, specifically with the consumption of soft cheeses by pregnant women and persons with weakened immune systems. Although the wide credibility interval for the Fruit category substantially limits interpretation, the analysis does suggest vigilance in seeking unrecognized sources of outbreaks and illnesses in this food category.”

Top Reasons for Warning Letters

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Drug residues, inadequate food safety and HACCP programs for seafood, and nutrition content mislabeling were leading causes of FDA issuing recent warning letters.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) sent warnings to three beef producers, one pork producer, a seafood processor and a biscuit manufacturer in its latest round of warning letters.

Some of the beef producers and dairy farms received warning letters for drug residues found in their meat:

  • Oak Hill Farms of Seward, PA, received a warning letter for selling a bob veal calf in July 2014, testing of which revealed neomycin, a drug that has no acceptable tolerance level.
  • Schneider Dairy of Westphalia, MI, was found to have sold a dairy cow for slaughter in February 2014 that contained more than 10 times the tolerance level for for desfuroylceftiofur, marker residue for the drug ceftiofur. FDA also found that the dairy failed to maintain complete drug treatment records and lacked clear directions from its veterinary clinic on using the drug.
  • Stonegate Farms, sold a cow for slaughter in July 2014 that was found to have 13 times the tolerable level of penicillin in its kidneys and nearly 100 times the tolerable level of sulfadimethoxine in its liver. That dairy also failed to maintain complete treatment records of its cattle, according to FDA.
  • Poeppelman Pork of Yorkshire, OH, was also found to have sold an animal for slaughter with excessive levels of drugs in its tissues. In February 2014, the pork producer allegedly sold a pig for slaughter that was found to have penicillin in its kidneys. FDA’s letter noted there is no tolerance level of penicillin in swine.

Yamahide Shokuhin, a seafood processor and exporter in Miki-shi, Japan, was cited for having inadequate HACCP plans. The company was also found to have “significant deviations” from requirements, including a number of incomplete food safety plans for its dried shaved bonito product.

NP Foods Ltd., headquartered in Riga, Latvia, was cited for having several wafer and biscuit products that were mislabeled, all related to incomplete nutritional information. The company also failed to include the common or usual name of the foods on the labels in English.

In each letter, FDA requested that the companies provide written responses detailing steps taken to bring the facilities into compliance with food-safety laws and regulations, to correct violations cited in the letters, and to prevent their recurrence. The companies are given 15 working days from receipt to outline specific steps they have taken to come into compliance with the law.

Putting Food Safety on the Clock

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A new hand-washing device, the SaniTimer, helps ensure bacteria-free hands and clean food.

A new award-winning device attaches easily to any standard hand washing sink faucet to ensure your staff rinse, lather and wash their hands for the full 20 seconds recommended by the CDC and taught in food handlers and health code courses nationwide to avoid the spread of harmful bacteria.

SaniTimerThe SaniTimer® automatically begins a 30-second countdown — the extra 10 seconds account for an individual’s preferred hand-wash prep — shown on an easy-to-read LED display as soon as the water is turned on. At the end of the cycle, the SaniTimer beeps to alert the hand washing user and resets itself to 30 seconds for the next member. The device works with pedal sinks as well as hands-free sinks for ease of installment and operation with your existing system.

The SaniTimer is a simple and straight forward, yet very effective tool in food service as statistics show that improper hand hygiene timing could account for up to 84 percent of food poisoning in food service establishments. The truth is as infectious as the negative results of poor hand hygiene and your employees, customers, and staff should know that this is a priority for you in your establishment.

Zachary Eddy, the inventor and patent holder is a professional chef of over 15 years and worked in countless commercial kitchens around the country and was constantly a witness to poor hand hygiene standards. “Food service staff have a lot on their plate but this is one step they can’t afford to overlook and is crucial to a quality product and experience. There has to be an effortless way to make sure health code regulations actually get adhered to each and every time to stop the spread of bacteria,” says Eddy.

The SaniTimer is the most effective and low-cost way to raise hand hygiene compliance and awareness in your facility today, period! When it comes to quality control, clean hands should be at the top of the list and the SaniTimer creates a great habit in a professional setting.

For more information, visit www.SaniTimer.com.

PerkinElmer Launches New Software for Rapid Detection of Food Adulterants

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Adulterant Screen™ software pairs with PerkinElmer’s advanced FT-IR spectroscopy instruments for single-step screening and analysis of food authenticity and nutritional components.

PerkinElmerAdulterantScreenPerkinElmer Inc., a global leader focused on improving the health and safety of people and the environment, today announced the launch of its Adulterant Screen™ software. This automated solution can help food industry professionals evaluate the integrity of food ingredients to guard against existing and potential food adulteration threats.

Adulterant Screen software, when paired with PerkinElmer’s Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) and Near Infrared (NIR) spectroscopy instruments, creates a unique, combined hardware and software system that can confirm authenticity and perform nutritional analysis in a single step.

“Food quality professionals face an increasing number of risks related to their ingredients which need to be continually screened for known contaminants as well as unknown contaminants that may be unsafe substitutions,” said Jon DiVincenzo, President, Environmental Health, PerkinElmer. “We are committed to delivering advanced detection solutions to help our global customers address increasingly complex industry regulations related to food quality control and safety in the supply chain.”

Adulterant Screen software performs rapid, targeted and non-targeted screening for several types of adulterants. Its customized set-up enables fast, effective implementation without lengthy calibrations. Its simple and intuitive green light/red light, “pass/fail” results system enables easy implementation, regardless of the knowledge level of its users. Click here for more information on the Adulterant Screen software.

PerkinElmer also offers the DairyGuard™ milk powder analyzer, a near infrared (NIR) spectrometer specifically developed for food suppliers and manufacturers. The DairyGuard analyzer is the only system available that tests for unknown adulterants as well as known compounds.