sugar cubes

Update to Nutrition Facts Label Sheds More Light on Added Sugars

By Food Safety Tech Staff
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sugar cubes

Yesterday FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, M.D. issued a statement about updates to the Nutrition Facts label for foods. The latest label uses evidence-based information about nutrients, including added sugars, to heighten consumer awareness related to the amount of added sugars in foods, especially as it relates to dietary guidance recommendations.

One of the important factors in ensuring successful implementation of the label is that FDA provides food manufacturers with clear guidance on how to make the required changes to their labels to meet the compliance deadline. Last year FDA proposed extending the compliance date from July of this year until January 1, 2020 for large manufacturers ($10 million+ in annual sales) and January 2021 for small companies.

“We’re equally committed to providing industry the information they need to effectively implement the new version of the Nutrition Facts label in a timely fashion. Today we issued practical guidances that provide further clarity on several key elements, including fiber, added sugars and serving size declarations.” – Scott Gottlieb, M.D., FDA

FDA also released the final guidance, “Food Labeling: Serving Sizes of Foods That Can Reasonably Be Consumed At One Occasion; Dual-Column Labeling; Updating, Modifying, and Establishing Certain Reference Amounts Customarily Consumed; Serving Size for Breath Mints; and Technical Amendments; Small Entity Compliance Guide”, along with a draft guidance to assist manufacturers in declaring added sugars on labeling honey, maple sugar and certain cranberry products.

Eurofins and Orion Assessment Partner to Expand Auditing and Certification Services

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Eurofins Food Safety Systems and Orion Assessment Services have announced a partnership that will expand their auditing and certification services on a global scale.

“The partnership will allow Eurofins to broaden their BRC Global Standards and GFSI scheme auditing resource base and provide them additional expertise in BRC to utilize. It will also allow Orion Assessment Services to operate under the Eurofins accreditation for BRC, SQF and FSSC 22000 schemes,” according to a Eurofins news release. “As a certification body, this collaboration will enhance the standards currently offered through Orion Assessment Services’ accreditation for ISO 17065 and ISO 17021, as well as offering brand new opportunities in the various GFSI schemes, for both existing and new clients internationally.”

FDA

FDA Collaborates with AMA on Foodborne Illness Education

By Food Safety Tech Staff
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FDA and the American Medical Association (AMA) have joined forces to release continuing medical education videos for doctors about foodborne illness. FDA and AMA felt that the globalization of the food supply as well as the growth of foodborne pathogens necessitated more medical education and patient counseling on foodborne illness.

“These changes create a need for physicians to guide patients in protecting themselves from foodborne illness, especially those who are among the most vulnerable to serious consequences and who are most likely to be in a physician’s care: the very young whose immune systems are not yet fully developed; individuals whose immune systems are weakened by pregnancy, age, chronic conditions like diabetes, cancer and HIV/AIDS; and persons with organ transplants taking immuno-suppressive medications,” according to an FDA release.

The two videos, “What Physicians Need to Know About Foodborne Illness: Suspect, Identify, Treat, and Report” and “Preventing Foodborne Illness: Talking to Patients About Food Safety” are available on FDA’s Food Safety and Nutrition Resources for Healthcare Professionals webpage.

HACCP, hazard analysis and critical control points

A Guide to HACCP

By Food Safety Tech Staff
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HACCP, hazard analysis and critical control points

HACCP is discussed often by food safety professionals. While the industry is well aware of the program and its necessity, the cannabis industry is far greener in this area. Food safety consultant Kathy Knutson, Ph.D. developed a series on HACCP for the cannabis industry for our sister publication, Cannabis Industry Journal. It also serves as a great primer for the novice in the food industry. You can read the article, “Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) for the Cannabis Industry: Part 1”, by following the link below.

Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) for the Cannabis Industry: Part 1

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Pilgrim’s Pride Recalls More than 101,000 Pounds of RTE Breaded Chicken Patties

By Food Safety Tech Staff
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Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. has recalled about 101,310 pounds of its ready-to-eat breaded chicken patties as a result of potential contamination with rubber. The Class I recall involves patties that were produced and packed on September 6, 2017. The issue was discovered following a customer complaint on February 13.

Specifically, the products are 30-lb boxes with five-pound clear bags that contain Gold Kist Farms, Fully Cooked Whole Grain Home-Style Breaded Chicken Patties. Distribution of the product included schools.

An alert issued by the USDA points to equipment failure at a Pilgrim’s Pride facility as the culprit in introducing the foreign material.

Recall

FDA Food Recalls Up Nearly 93% Since 2012

By Food Safety Tech Staff
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Recall

Over the past five years, the food and beverage industry has seen a big increase in the units recalled—a 92.7% spike in FDA recalls and an 83.4% increase in recalled pounds by USDA since 2012, according to Stericycle’s quarterly recall index. The firm cites technological advances in food testing, factory farming and more automation in food production as the main contributors to the high numbers.

During Q4 2017, bacterial contamination and undeclared allergens led the pack in food recall causes. According to Stericycle, back in 2012, about 28% of FDA food recalls were a result of bacterial contamination, while undeclared allergens accounted for 35% of pounds of food recalled by USDA. During Q4 2017, 44% of food recalls (based on units) were from bacterial contamination, followed by undeclared allergens (31%), mislabeling (13%), and quality (10%). Among the top categories for recalls were prepared foods (20%, nuts and seeds (16%), produce (15%) and baked goods (12%). In addition, nearly 50% of the USDA recalled pounds were a result of lack of inspection.

FDA

FDA Releases 2017 Food Code

By Food Safety Tech Staff
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FDA

This week FDA released the 2017 Food Code with updates that aim to provide government and industry with guidance and provisions for reducing the risk of foodborne illness.

The most notable changes to the 2017 Food Code include a revised requirement that the person in charge (PIC) must be a certified food protection manager; a new section that speaks to using bandages, finger cots or finger stalls; harmonized cooking time and temperature parameters for intact and non-intact meat and poultry; and updated procedures for retail food establishments operations during an extended water or electrical outage.

“The 2017 Food Code provides uniform standards for retail food safety, eliminates redundant processes for establishing food safety criteria, and establishes a more standardized approach in controlling food safety hazards within a retail environment.” – FDA

FDA has a special National Retail Food Team that can help regulatory officials, educators and industry in understanding, adopting and implementing the provisions of the Food Code. Those who have questions can send them to retailfoodpolicyteam@fda.hhs.gov.

Food Safety Supply Chain panel 2017

Registration Open for 4th Food Safety Supply Chain Conference

By Food Safety Tech Staff
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Food Safety Supply Chain panel 2017

Do you trust your suppliers? What about your supplier’s suppliers? Strengthening the links within your supply chain can be a challenging task, but it is necessary with FDA, and FSMA, recognizing the risk that exists.

Key topics, including vulnerabilities, inspections & audits, traceability, supplier verification, transportation, and recalls will be addressed at the 4th Food Safety Supply Chain conference from June 12–13 in Rockville, MD. The event will be held at the U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention.

This year’s agenda will be posted by March 1. In the meantime, the following are some topics covered at last year’s event:

Industry Experts Weigh in on Supply Chain Issues

Import Safe Food, Stay Out of Trouble with FDA

 

Bionano Laboratory

Biosensor Detects Norovirus on the Spot, in One Hour

By Food Safety Tech Staff
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Bionano Laboratory

Norovirus has returned to the headlines following the latest outbreak at the PyeongChang Olympics in South Korea. Researchers at Bionano Laboratory in Guelph, Canada are trying to prevent such outbreaks with the development of a nanotechnology-based biosensor that can identify foodborne viruses at the point of care.

“Our nanotech biosensor boasts of a microfluidic platform duly integrated with graphene-gold nano-composite aptasensor that has shown to help with one-step norovirus detection. We have been able to detection the norovirus with in an hour with superior sensitivity with our state-of-the art device.” – Suresh Neethirajan, Bionano Lab

Designed for use in the field, the paper-based microfluidic device has a screen-printed carbon electrode that enables electrochemical virus detection within an hour. Its chip is packed with silica microbeads zones to filter and enrich a Norovirus-infected sample. The researchers also state that the biosensor is designed to be simple and cost effective. They have published two papers demonstrating the effectiveness of the device, one in Microchimica Acta (Apramer-based fluorometric determination of norovirus using paper-based microfluidic device) and the other in Biosensors and Bioelectronics.

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USDA PDP Report: Farmers Doing a Good Job Complying with Regulations

By Food Safety Tech Staff
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Fruit and vegetable farmers are doing an “impressive” job of complying with the laws and regulations related to pesticide use in production, according to the USDA’s annual Pesticide Data Program (PDP) report. Based on data from 2016, the report found that more than 99% of samples had pesticide residues that were “well below” the EPA’s established tolerances, and more than 23% had no detectable residues. Less than half-a-percent of samples (0.46%) had residues that exceeded the EPA established tolerance.

To compile the PDP report, surveys were conducted in 2016 on several foods, including eggs, milk, and fresh and processed fruit and vegetables. The report contains data from more than 10,000 samples collected throughout the United States.

A release from the Alliance for Food and Farming states that the U.S. food supply is one of the safest in the world, yet: “Activists groups often manipulate the findings from the USDA PDP report taking the very positive results and somehow turning them into something negative. This tactic has been used routinely for 20-plus years to create a so-called ‘dirty dozen’ list, which has been repeatedly discredited by scientists.”