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From the Editor’s Desk

June 7 is World Food Safety Day

By Food Safety Tech Staff
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This year, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) sixth annual World Food Safety Day is June 7. The idea is  it will draw attention to food safety incidents. This year’s theme underlines the importance of being prepared for food safety incidents, no matter how mild or severe they can be.

According to the WHO’s website, Food safety incidents are situations where there is a potential or confirmed health risk associated with food consumption. A food incident can happen, for example, due to accidents, inadequate controls, food fraud or natural events. While being ready to manage food safety incidents requires dedicated efforts from policymakers, food safety authorities, farmers and food business operators, consumers also can play an active role.

A communication toolkit was developed by WHO and FAO to present information about the sixth World Food Safety Day, and to share ideas on how to take part in the celebrations on (or around) 7 June 2024 and can be downloaded here.

Cows, dairy, farms

USDA, FDA and HHS Announce Funding to Fight Avian Flu in Dairy Products

By Food Safety Tech Staff
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Cows, dairy, farms

U.S. regulatory agencies are working together to control and mitigate the risks of H5N1 in the dairy industry. The USDA announced assistance for producers with H5N1-affected premises to improve on-site biosecurity in order to reduce the spread. In addition, USDA is taking steps to make available financial tools for lost milk production in herds affected by H5N1. Funding is available to:

Protect against the potential for spread between human and animals. The USDA will provide financial support (up to $2,000 per affected premises per month) for producers who supply personal protective equipment (PPE) to employees and/or provide outerwear uniform laundering, for producers of affected herds who facilitate the participation of their workers in USDA/CDC workplace and farmworker study.

Workers who participate in the study are also eligible for financial incentives to compensate them for their time, regardless of whether the study is led by federal, state, or local public health professionals.

Support producers in biosecurity planning and implementation. The USDA will provide support (up to $1,500 per affected premises) to develop biosecurity plans based on existing secure milk supply plans. This includes recommended enhanced biosecurity for individuals that frequently move between dairy farms (milk haulers, veterinarians, feed trucks, AI technicians, etc). In addition, USDA will provide a $100 payment to producers who purchase and use an in-line sampler for their milk system.

Provide funding for heat treatment to dispose of milk in a bio secure fashion. If a producer establishes a system to heat treat all waste milk before disposal, USDA will pay the producer up to $2,000 per affected premises per month.

Reimburse producers for veterinarian costs associated with confirmed positive H5N1 premises. Veterinary costs are eligible to be covered from the initial date of positive confirmation at NVSL for that farm, up to $10,000 per affected premises.

Offset shipping costs for influenza A testing at laboratories in the National Animal Health Laboratory Network (NAHLN). USDA will pay for the cost of shipping samples to NAHLN labs for testing. USDA will pay actual shipping costs, not to exceed $50 per shipment for up to two shipments per month for each affected premises. Testing at NAHLN laboratories for samples associated with this event (e.g., pre-movement, testing of sick/suspect animals, samples from concerned producers) is already being conducted at no-cost to the producer.

Compensate producers for loss of milk production. USDA is taking steps to make funding available from the Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honey Bees, and Farm-raised Fish Program (ELAP) to compensate eligible producers with positive herds who experience loss of milk production.

Work with states to limit movement of lactating cattle. USDA will work with and support the actions of states with affected herds as they consider movement restrictions within their borders to further limit the spread of H5N1 between herds to reduce further spread of this virus.

USDA will make $98 million in existing funds available to the Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) to fund these initiatives. If needed, USDA has the authority, with Congressional notification, to make additional funds available.

HHS

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) also announced new funding investments through CDC and FDA totaling $101 million to mitigate the risk of H5N1 and continue its work to test, prevent, and treat H5N1. This includes an additional $93 million to support current response efforts for avian influenza.

These investments will allow CDC to bolster testing and laboratory capacity, surveillance, genomic sequencing, support jurisdictions and partner efforts to reach high risk populations and initiate a new wastewater surveillance pilot. The funding includes:

  • $34 million in Testing and Laboratory Capacity to:
    • Develop and optimize assays that can be used to sequence virus independent of virus identification.
    • Assess circulating H5N1 viruses for any concerning viral changes, including increased transmissibility or severity in humans or decreasing efficacy of diagnostics or antivirals.
    • Support the ability of STLT Public Health Labs throughout the country to surge their testing abilities, including support for the additional costs of shipping human avian influenza specimens, which are select agents.
    • Through the International Reagent Resource (IRR), support manufacture, storage, and distribution of roughly one thousand additional influenza diagnostic test kits (equaling nearly around one million additional tests) for virologic surveillance. The IRR would also provide influenza reagents for research and development activities on a global scale. This is in addition to current influenza testing capacity at CDC and in STLT public health and DOD labs, which is approximately 490,000 H5-specific tests.
    • Address the manufacturer issue detected with current avian flu test kits.
    • Initiate avian flu testing in one commercial laboratory.
  • $29 million in Epidemiology, Surveillance, and Data Analytics to:
    • Scale up existing efforts to monitor people who are exposed to infected birds and poultry to accommodate workers at likely many more poultry facilities, as well as potentially workers at other agricultural facilities and other people (e.g., hunters) who may be exposed to species that pose a threat.
    • Scale up contact tracing efforts and data reporting to accommodate monitoring of contacts of additional sporadic cases.
    • Support the collection and characterization of additional clinical specimens through established surveillance systems from regions with large numbers of exposed persons to enhance the ability to detect any unrecognized cases in the community if they occur.
    • Expand respiratory virus surveillance to capture more samples from persons with acute respiratory illness in different care settings.
    • Support continuation and possible expansion of existing respiratory surveillance platforms and vaccine effectiveness platforms.
  • $14 million in Genomic Sequencing to:
    • Provide bioinformatics and data analytics support for genomic sequencing at CDC that supports surveillance needs for enhanced monitoring.
    • Expand sequencing capacity for HPAI in state-level National Influenza Reference Centers (NIRCs), Influenza Sequencing Center (ISC), and Pathogen Genomic Centers of Excellence.
  • $8 million in Vaccine Activities to analyze circulating H5N1 viruses to determine whether current Candidate Vaccine Viruses (CVVs) would be effective and develop new ones if necessary.
  • $5 million in STLT Jurisdiction/Partner Funding to:support partner efforts to reach high-risk populations.
  • $3 million in Wastewater Surveillance to initiate wastewater pilot to evaluate the use case for HPAI in up to 10 livestock and implement a study to evaluate the use of Influenza A sequencing in wastewater samples for highly pathogenic avian influenza typing.

Additionally, the FDA announced an additional $8 million to support its ongoing response activities. This funding will support the agency’s ability to validate pasteurization criteria, conduct surveillance at different points in the milk production system, bolster laboratory capacity and provide needed resources to train staff on biosecurity procedures. Additionally, these funds will help support H5N1 activities in partnership with state co-regulatory partners, who administer state programs as part of the federal/state milk safety system. It may also be used to allow the FDA to partner with universities on critical research questions.

 

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FDA Publishes Final Rule on Agricultural Water To Enhance Produce Safety

By Food Safety Tech Staff
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On May 2, the FDA published a final rule on agricultural water developed to enhance the safety of produce. The revised requirements are intended to enhance public health by improving the safety of water used in produce cultivation. The revisions are also designed to be practical across various agricultural water systems, uses, and practices, while remaining adaptable to future advancements in agricultural water quality science.

The final rule replaces certain pre-harvest agricultural water requirements for covered produce (other than sprouts) in the 2015 Produce Safety Rule with requirements for systems-based agricultural water assessments to minimize potential risks associated with pre-harvest agricultural water. Specifically, this rule:

  • Establishes requirements for agricultural water assessments that evaluate a variety of factors that are key determinants of contamination risks associated with pre-harvest agricultural water. This includes an evaluation of the water system, water use practices, crop characteristics, environmental conditions, potential impacts on water from adjacent and nearby land, and other relevant factors.
  • Includes testing pre-harvest agricultural water as part of an assessment in certain circumstances.
  • Requires farms to implement effective mitigation measures within specific timeframes based on findings from their assessments. Hazards related to certain activities associated with adjacent and nearby land uses are subject to expedited mitigation.
  • Adds new options for mitigation measures, providing farms with additional flexibility in responding to findings from their pre-harvest agricultural water assessments.

Farms are required to conduct assessments of their pre-harvest agricultural water annually, and whenever a significant change occurs, to identify any conditions likely to introduce known or reasonably foreseeable hazards into or onto covered produce or food contact surfaces.

These revised requirements reflect findings from investigations of several produce-related outbreaks as well as feedback from a variety of stakeholders on the agricultural water requirements in the 2015 Produce Safety Rule. Dates for compliance with the new pre-harvest agricultural water requirements for non-sprout covered produce are as follows:

  • Very small farms: 2 years, 9 months after the effective date of the final rule
  • Small farms: 1 year, 9 months after the effective date of the final rule
  • All other farms: 9 months after the effective date of the final rule

The rule does not alter existing requirements for agricultural water for sprouts, for which compliance dates have passed. It also does not alter existing requirements for harvest and post-harvest agricultural water activities. Additional information about compliance dates can be found on the FDA Proposes Compliance Date Extension for Pre-Harvest Agricultural Water Requirements webpage.

The FDA will work with its state partners to implement these changes. The agency plans to work closely with state regulators, National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA), educators, and others, including the Produce Safety Alliance, to provide training to implement these changes to the agricultural water requirements.

 

 

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USDA Declares Salmonella an Adulterant in Raw Breaded Stuffed Chicken Products

By Food Safety Tech Staff
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On April 26, USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) officially declared Salmonella an adulterant in raw breaded stuffed chicken products when they exceed a 1 colony forming unit (CFU) per gram or higher for Salmonella contamination.

The USDA FSIS announced its intent to declare Salmonella an adulterant in raw breaded stuffed chicken back in August 2022. This final determination is part of FSIS’ broader efforts to reduce Salmonella illnesses associated with the raw poultry supply in the United States. The agency noted that it intends to address Salmonella contamination in other raw poultry products later this year.

“Under President Biden’s leadership, USDA is taking significant steps toward keeping American consumers safe from foodborne illness,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “This final determination marks the first time that Salmonella is being declared an adulterant in a class of raw poultry products. This policy change is important because it will allow us to stop the sale of these products when we find levels of Salmonella contamination that could make people sick.”

Under this final determination, FSIS will consider any raw breaded stuffed chicken products that include a chicken component that tested positive for Salmonella at 1 CFU per gram or higher to be adulterated. It will carry out verification procedures, including sampling and testing of the raw incoming chicken component of these products prior to stuffing and breading, to ensure producing establishments control Salmonella in these products. If the chicken component in these products does not meet this standard, the product lot represented by the sampled component would not be permitted to be used to produce the final raw breaded stuffed chicken products. The determination, including FSIS’ sampling and verification testing, will be effective 12 months after its publication in the Federal Register.

In determining that Salmonella is an adulterant in raw breaded stuffed chicken products, FSIS considered the best available science and data using similar criteria as in its 1994, 1999, and 2011 E. coli policymaking. When FSIS declared seven Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) strains to be adulterants in select raw beef products, it relied on several factors, including the available information on serotypes linked to human illnesses, infectious dose, severity of illnesses and typical consumer preparation practices associated with a product. The breaded stuffed chicken products determination relied on the same factors.

FSIS and its public health partners have investigated 14 Salmonella outbreaks and approximately 200 illnesses associated with these products since 1998. The most recent outbreak was in 2021 and resulted in illnesses across 11 states. These products account for less than 0.15% of the total domestic chicken supply, but outbreaks linked to these products represented approximately 5% of all chicken-associated outbreaks in the U.S. during 1998-2020.

Raw breaded stuffed chicken products are pre-browned and may appear cooked, but the chicken is raw. The products are typically cooked by consumers from a frozen state, which increases the risk of the product not reaching the internal temperature needed to destroy Salmonella. Despite FSIS’ and industry’s efforts to improve labeling, these products continue to be associated with Salmonella illness outbreaks, said the USDA.

To view the final determination, visit the FSIS Federal Register Rules webpage.

Food Safety Consortium with AFFI 2024 logo

American Frozen Food Institute and Food Safety Tech Join Forces for 2024 Food Safety Consortium Conference & Expo

By Food Safety Tech Staff
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Food Safety Consortium with AFFI 2024 logo

The American Frozen Food Institute (AFFI) and Food Safety Tech proudly announce their partnership on the 12thAnnual Food Safety Consortium, a conference for food safety and quality assurance professionals that equips attendees with cutting-edge knowledge, practical skills, and a collaborative network to enhance their professional development as champions of food safety and innovation in the production of foods and beverages.

“AFFI’s longstanding history of advancing food safety practices across the frozen value chain through scientific research, innovation, education and training is unparalleled,” said AFFI President and CEO Alison Bodor. “Our collaboration with Food Safety Tech for The Food Safety Consortium exemplifies AFFI’s steadfast commitment to cultivating a food safety culture and building a community among our member companies and the broader food industry that empowers employees to make critical food safety decisions and take preventive actions that reduce the odds of their facilities becoming a recall statistic.”

“Our partnership with AFFI is a significant enhancement to the Food Safety Consortium Conference,” said Rick Biros, publisher of Food Safety Tech and director of the Food Safety Consortium. “AFFI’s commitment to food safety and professional education will provide attendees with an unparalleled opportunity to enhance their learning, connect with regulators and industry leaders, and ultimately better serve their organizations and end users.”

This collaboration underscores the shared commitment of AFFI and Food Safety Tech to elevate industry standards, and the exploration of key scientific and regulatory developments impacting public health and safety and its implications for food production. The Food Safety Consortium represents an invaluable opportunity for professionals to engage with leading experts, exchange insights, and collectively advance best practices in food safety.

Join AFFI and Food Safety Tech at The Food Safety Consortium October 20-22, 2024, in Washington D.C., where expertise and knowledge sharing leads to practical implementation, and together, we pave the way for a safer, more resilient food industry.

About AFFI

The American Frozen Food Institute is the member-driven national trade association representing all segments of the frozen food supply chain from manufacturers to suppliers and distributors. AFFI advocates before legislative and regulatory entities on the industry’s behalf, serves as the voice for the industry, and convenes industry leadership to create an environment where frozen foods are essential in today’s dynamic marketplace.

About Food Safety Tech

Food Safety Tech is a digital media community for food industry professionals interested in food safety and quality. We inform, educate and connect food manufacturers and processors, retail & food service, food laboratories, growers, suppliers and vendors, and regulatory agencies with original, in-depth features and reports, curated industry news and user-contributed content, and live and virtual events that offer knowledge, perspectives, strategies and resources to facilitate an environment that fosters safer food for consumers.

About The Food Safety Consortium

The Food Safety Consortium is a business-to-business conference focused on Food Protection that has food safety, food integrity and food defense as the foundation of its educational content. With a unique focus on science, technology and compliance, the “Consortium” brings together food safety and quality assurance professionals for education, networking and discussion geared toward solving the key challenges facing the food safety industry today.

Cargill Honored with 2024 Edison Award for Environmental Solutions

By Food Safety Tech Staff
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This month Cargill was honored with the Edison Award for Social & Cultural Impact – Environmental Solutions, named for American inventor Thomas Alva Edison, the awards recognize top innovative products and business leaders from around the world.

Cargill received the Gold award in Social & Cultural Impact – Environmental Solutions for its “1000 Farmers Endless Prosperity” program, which aims to improve farmers’ welfare, enhance their productivity, and foster social and digital transformation in agriculture by promoting regenerative agricultural practices. Since its launch, the program has benefitted more than 6,000 farmers across 21 provinces in Türkiye, covering 70,000 hectares dedicated to corn, sunflower, and canola production. Participants receive free training, access to digital agricultural tools and consulting services, empowering them to adopt sustainable practices effectively.

“Innovations begin with innovators. Our teams are continuously reimagining what’s possible and laying the groundwork to deliver big and bold innovations in food and agriculture,” said Florian Schattenmann, Cargill’s chief technology officer and vice president of Innovation and Research & Development. “This recognition underscores the wonderful work from our teams and our purpose to nourish the world and deliver solutions that are better for our health, environment, and people.”

Edison Award nominations are reviewed by the Edison Awards’ Steering Committee and an executive judging body. The panel is comprised of more than 2,000 senior business executives and academics from the fields of product development, design, engineering, science, marketing and education, as well as past winners.

Seafood

FDA Testing Reveals Low Occurrence of PFAS in Meat and Seafood

By Food Safety Tech Staff
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Seafood

On April 18, the FDA shared test results for Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) in 95 samples from one regional collection from its Total Diet Study (TDS). PFAS were detected in eight samples — two beef and two cod samples, and one sample each of shrimp, salmon, catfish, and tilapia. The FDA concluded that exposure to PFAS at the levels measured in these eight samples is not likely to be a health concern for young children or the general population, based on evaluation of each PFAS for which there is a toxicological reference value. The agency stated that the data are consistent with previous TDS testing results that detected PFAS primarily in some meat and seafood samples, while the majority of previous TDS results were found not to detect PFAS. Per the FDA, no PFAS have been detected in over 97% (788 out of 813) of the fresh and processed foods tested from the TDS to date.

The FDA has been testing fresh and processed foods since 2019 to estimate dietary exposure to PFAS from the general food supply, with nearly 1,300 samples tested to date. This testing, which included a targeted survey to sample seafood, has so far indicated that seafood may be at higher risk for environmental PFAS contamination compared to other types of foods. “While the data on PFAS in seafood is still very limited, filter feeders, such as clams, but also other bivalve mollusks, including oysters, mussels, and scallops, may have the potential to bioaccumulate more environmental contaminants than other seafood types,” the FDA stated in its announcement. “We continue to pursue additional sampling of bivalve mollusks, including imported and domestic clams, as well as other seafood to better understand PFAS in the U.S. food supply.”

In the past five years, the FDA has also developed validated methods for testing for PFAS in increasingly diverse types of foods, publishing an updated analytical method to the FDA’s Foods Program Compendium of Analytical Laboratory Methods: Chemical Analytical Manual. This method includes the addition of 14 analytes to the existing 16 analytes, resulting in the ability to measure 30 PFAS in food and extending the method to include animal feed samples.

Romaine Lettuce

Study Identifies Listeria Contamination Patterns in Produce Processing Facilities

By Food Safety Tech Staff
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Romaine Lettuce

A two-year study on Listeria monocytogenes (Lm) contamination patterns and related sanitation programs in produce processing facilities is already uncovering valuable insights. Ana Allende, Ph.D., and her team from the CEBAS-CSIC research institute in Spain, are hoping that their research, funded by the Center for Produce Safety, will yield practical data about produce facilities’ environmental monitoring plans as well as the efficacy of sanitation programs.

The researchers worked with three processing plants: one with a cut iceberg lettuce line, one with a cut fruit line, and one with a salad bowl line. Their first objective was to understand how different factors such as zoning, sanitary design, and connectivity affected the probability of contamination in different fresh produce processing facilities. In the case of salad bowls, the ingredients included not only leafy greens and other vegetables but also proteins from meat, fish and cheese, or pastas from different sources.

The researchers divided the processing areas into three zones based on their proximity to contact with the produce. Zone 1 involved areas with direct contact, such as knives and conveyor belts. Zone 2 included surfaces that did not contact food but were in close proximity, and zone 3 included more remote non-contact surfaces, such as drains, floors, and ceilings that could potentially lead to contaminating zones 1 and 2.

They conducted systematic sampling of the facilities at the end of the day before cleaning and sanitizing. They also resampled the three processing lines after the cleaning and disinfection activities. In addition to the more than 600 total samples from the three zones, the researchers collected 45 samples from raw ingredients and end products.

“By sampling the processing plants before and after cleaning and disinfection, we could understand which might be the entry points of the contamination,” said Allende.

Regardless of the facility, they had the highest number of positive Lm samples from zone 3. “One of the hypotheses we had was the raw material was introducing much of the Listeria,” said Allende. “This was before we did sampling and the whole genome sequencing to understand the isolates and that they were not all coming from the raw material. Some of the contamination was probably coming from zone 3 in the different processing facilities.”

The researchers also conducted whole genome sequencing on 100 samples to better understand whether the Lm was transient or persistent. What surprised them was that the same two serotypes of L. monocytogenes were found on the three processing lines after the two samplings, before and after cleaning. “This makes us understand that these serotypes are inherent and are moving from zone 3 to zone 1,” said Allende.

As part of the project, the researchers also evaluated the efficacy of biocides against resident Lm isolates. “We found, indeed, all of the isolates obtained from the environment after cleaning were sensitive to the biocides,” said Allende. This allayed concerns that the pathogens were becoming resistant to the sanitizers.

While the research aimed to provide relevant results for the three cooperating produce processors, it also has broader implications for the produce industry about how they should conduct environmental monitoring including sampling after processing just before cleaning. In addition, it should help processors better understand the main contamination points in zone 1 and how they relate to identical or similar Lm sequence types in zones 2 and 3.

Glass of water

EPA Announces PFAS Drinking Water Standard and Remediation Funding

By Food Safety Tech Staff
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Glass of water

The EPA has issued a final rule to reduce exposure to harmful per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) through drinking water. The final rule supports President Biden’s government-wide action plan to combat PFAS pollution.

EPA also announced nearly $1 billion in newly available funding through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to help states and territories implement PFAS testing and treatment at public water systems and to help owners of private wells address PFAS contamination. An additional $12 billion is available through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for general drinking water improvements, including addressing emerging contaminants like PFAS.

The rule sets limits for five individual PFAS: PFOA, PFOS, PFNA, PFHxS, and HFPO-DA (also known as “GenX Chemicals”). The rule also sets a limit for mixtures of any two or more of four PFAS: PFNA, PFHxS, PFBS, and “GenX chemicals.”

  • For PFOA and PFOS, EPA is setting a Maximum Contaminant Level Goal (MCLG), a non-enforceable health-based goal, at zero. This reflects the latest science showing that there is no level of exposure to these contaminants without risk of health impacts, including certain cancers.
  • EPA is setting enforceable Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCL) at 4.0 parts per trillion for PFOA and PFOS, individually.
  • For PFNA, PFHxS, and “GenX Chemicals,” EPA is setting the MCLGs and MCLs at 10 parts per trillion.
  • EPA is also setting a limit for any mixture of two or more of the following PFAS: PFNA, PFHxS, PFBS, and “GenX Chemicals.” These limits are based on a Hazard Index that is calculated by dividing the concentration of each of the four PFAS compounds by its Health-Based Water Concentration (HBWC; 10 ppt for PFNA, 10 ppt for HFPO-DA (GenX), 9 ppt for PFHxS, and 2000 ppt for PFBS) and then adding the results together, with an MCL of 1.0.

“Drinking water contaminated with PFAS has plagued communities across this country for too long,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. “That is why President Biden has made tackling PFAS a top priority, investing historic resources to address these harmful chemicals and protect communities nationwide. Our PFAS Strategic Roadmap marshals the full breadth of EPA’s authority and resources to protect people from these harmful forever chemicals. Today, I am proud to finalize this critical piece of our Roadmap, and in doing so, save thousands of lives and help ensure our children grow up healthier.”

“President Biden believes that everyone deserves access to clean, safe drinking water, and he is delivering on that promise,” said Brenda Mallory, Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality. “The first national drinking water standards for PFAS marks a significant step towards delivering on the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to advancing environmental justice, protecting communities, and securing clean water for people across the country.”

EPA estimates that between 6% and 10% of the 66,000 public drinking water systems subject to this rule may have to take action to reduce PFAS to meet these new standards. All public water systems have three years to complete their initial monitoring for these chemicals. They must inform the public of the level of PFAS measured in their drinking water. Where PFAS is found at levels that exceed these standards, systems must implement solutions to reduce PFAS in their drinking water within five years.

The EPA stated that the new limits in this rule are achievable using a range of available technologies and approaches including granular activated carbon, reverse osmosis, and ion exchange systems. Drinking water systems will have flexibility to determine the best solution for their community, and EPA will work with state co-regulators in supporting water systems and local officials to implement this rule.

In the coming weeks, EPA will host a series of webinars to provide information to the public, communities, and water utilities about the final PFAS drinking water regulation. To learn more about the webinars, visit EPA’s PFAS drinking water regulation webpage.

 

pig on farm

NSF Now Offering CA Prop 12 Certification

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pig on farm

Global public health and safety organization NSF is now offering California Proposition 12 (Prop 12) certification for American meat and egg distributors that are distributing products in the state of California. Prop 12 is an animal welfare law enacted by the state of California on January 1, 2024, that sets higher standards for confining certain farm animals.

In 2023, NSF also received approval from the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) to offer Prop 12 certification to British pork farmers in the UK as the only Red Tractor Certification Body for pork in the country.

“NSF recently conducted research that demonstrated that the ethical treatment of animals is now a fundamental concern for consumers, with nearly 70% of Americans saying that animal wellness plays an important role in purchasing decisions,” said Dr. Elaine Vanier, veterinarian and Animal Wellness Program Lead for NSF. “Receiving approval from the CDFA for both meat and egg distributors in America and pig farmers in the UK allows us to provide international support to the animal products industry while increasing access to safe and traceable meat and eggs across the U.S.”

Certification to Prop 12 involves an application process, onsite inspection and corrections of any deficiencies identified in the certification process. Upon certification, meat and egg distributors are approved to sell the certified products to suppliers and retailers in California.

“NSF’s Prop 12 certification means that American meat and egg distributors can now access the Californian market with greater confidence,” said Suzanne Barkley, Director of Food Supply Chain Certification at NSF. “This aligns perfectly with NSF’s mission to improve and protect human health, as healthier animals mean safer, higher quality products for consumers.”