Mérieux NutriSciences announced the appointment of Dr. Emilio Esteban as Chief Scientific Officer for its North America division, and Head of its Global Analytical Hub.
In a press release, the company stated that Dr. Esteban brings remarkable experience to Mérieux NutriSciences with his proven professional background in food safety and public health. In this role, he will work to further strengthen Mérieux NutriSciences’ status as a global leader in food science and safety, and to drive the organization’s strategy to deliver globally cutting-edge analytical services.
Over the last 22 years with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Dr. Esteban has held a variety of leadership roles, most recently serving as Undersecretary overseeing the Food Safety mission. Prior to that, Dr. Esteban worked for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as an epidemiologist and Assistant Director for Public Health in its Food Safety Office. He has served on the executive board of the International Association for Food Protection (IAFP) and chaired the Codex Alimentarius Commission.
Dr. Esteban received a doctorate in veterinary medicine from Mexico’sUniversidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, a Master of Business Administration from the Panamerican Institute, as well as a Master of Preventive Veterinary Medicine, and a doctorate in epidemiology from the University of California at Davis.
Today, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is announcing the start of its National Milk Testing Strategy (NMTS), which builds on measures taken by USDA and federal and state partners since the outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 in dairy cattle was first detected in March 2024. Today, USDA is issuing a new Federal Order, as well as accompanying guidance, requiring that raw (unpasteurized) milk samples nationwide be collected and shared with USDA for testing. This new guidance from USDA, which was developed with significant input from state, veterinary and public health stakeholders, will facilitate comprehensive H5N1 surveillance of the nation’s milk supply and dairy herds.
According to the USDA’s announcement on their website, this NMTS is designed to increase USDA’s and public health partners’ understanding of the virus’ spread in the United States through a structured, uniform, and mandatory testing system that will help swiftly identify which states, and specific herds within them, are affected with H5N1; support the rapid implementation of enhanced biosecurity measures to decrease the risk of transmission to other livestock; and importantly, inform critical efforts to protect farmworkers to help lower their risk of exposure. USDA believes this additional step is needed to proactively support effective biosecurity measures, which is key for states and farmers to contain and eliminate H5N1 infections from their livestock and to eliminate HPAI in livestock across the U.S. dairy population.
The Federal Order released today makes three new requirements.
it requires the sharing of raw milk samples, upon request, from any entity responsible for a dairy farm, bulk milk transporter, bulk milk transfer station, or dairy processing facility that sends or holds milk intended for pasteurization.
the Federal Order requires herd owners with positive cattle to provide epidemiological information that enables activities such as contact tracing and disease surveillance.
finally, like USDA’s April 24 Federal Order, it requires that private laboratories and state veterinarians report positive results to USDA that come from tests done on raw milk samples drawn as part of the NMTS.
The first round of silo testing under the Federal Order and the NMTS is scheduled to begin the week of Dec. 16, 2024, although some states are already conducting testing compatible with the NMTS.
This new Federal Order does not override or supersede USDA’s April 24 Federal Order, which still requires the mandatory testing of lactating dairy cows prior to interstate shipment and requires that all privately owned laboratories and state veterinarians report positive test results connected with those tests. The new Federal Order announced today is intended to complement and enhance this existing order.
National Milk Testing Strategy
As part of the National Milk Testing Strategy, APHIS will work with each state in the contiguous United States to execute testing in a way that works for the state and that aligns with the NMTS standards. Once a state begins testing under the NMTS, APHIS will place that state into one of five stages based on the HPAI H5N1 virus prevalence in that state. As states move to another stage, we will have a stronger picture of our progress towards eliminating HPAI H5N1 at state, regional and national levels. These stages include:
Stage 1: Standing Up Mandatory USDA National Plant Silo Monitoring
USDA will immediately begin nationwide testing of milk silos at dairy processing facilities. This national sample will allow USDA to identify where the disease is present, monitor trends, and help states identify potentially affected herds.
Stage 2: Determining a State’s H5N1 Dairy Cattle Status
Building on the results of silo monitoring, in collaboration with states, USDA will also stand up bulk tank sampling programs that will enable us to identify herds in the state that are affected with H5N1.
Stage 3: Detecting and Responding to the Virus in Affected States
For states with H5N1 detections, APHIS will work quickly to identify specific cases and implement rapid response measures, including enhanced biosecurity using USDA’s existing incentives programs, movement controls and contact tracing.
Stage 4: Demonstrating Ongoing Absence of H5 in Dairy Cattle in Unaffected States
Once all dairy herds in a given state are considered to be unaffected, APHIS will continue regular sampling of farms’ bulk tanks to ensure the disease does not re-emerge. Bulk tank sampling frequency will progressively decline as the state demonstrates continual silo negativity (e.g., weekly, monthly, quarterly if continually negative). If a state becomes affected, USDA will re-engage detection and response activities, and the state will return to Stage 3.
Stage 5: Demonstrating Freedom from H5 in U.S. Dairy Cattle
After all states move through Stage Four, APHIS will work with the states to begin periodic sampling and testing to illustrate long-term absence from the national herd.
As of this announcement, the following six states will be included in the first round of states brought into the program for testing: California, Colorado, Michigan, Mississippi, Oregon, and Pennsylvania.
As states begin testing under the NMTS and as they move through the five stages, their progress will be shared at USDA HPAI in Livestock Testing. While the majority of states will enter the NMTS at Stage 1, we anticipate states with ongoing testing may meet the testing requirements described above in Stages 2-4. USDA will work closely with states to determine each state’s status. While the majority of states will enter the NMTS at Stage 1, we anticipate states with ongoing testing may meet the testing requirements described above in Stages 2-4. USDA will work closely with states to determine each state’s status.
On November 21, 2024, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced changes to the agency’s leadership team.
Dr. Denise Eblen, currently FSIS’ Assistant Administrator for the Office of Public Health Science, has been named agency Administrator. As Assistant Administrator for the Office of Public Health Science since 2018, Dr. Eblen has led the agency’s scientific analysis, including oversight of FSIS laboratories and testing of regulatory samples, risk assessment, and outbreak investigation and response. Drawing from her twenty five years of experience at USDA, she will continue to steer FSIS in its efforts to use science-based decision making to modernize the agency’s inspection strategies, policies, and approaches to improve public health. In addition to her work with FSIS, Dr. Eblen has held roles with USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture and the Agricultural Research Service.
Denise Eblen, Ph.D., FSIS, Administrator, Office of Public Health Service portrait in Washington, DC on May 30, 2018. USDA photo by Ken Hammond.
Dr. Eblen holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Human Nutrition from the University of Ulster at Coleraine in Northern Ireland, a Master of Science Degree in Food Science from Queen’s University, Belfast, in Northern Ireland, and a Ph.D. in Food Safety Microbiology from the University of Ulster at Jordanstown, Northern Ireland.
Paul Kiecker will take on the role of Assistant Administrator in the Office of Investigation, Enforcement and Audit, where he will apply his deep experience with the agency and his leadership capabilities to head FSIS’s investigation, enforcement, and audit functions. Mr. Kiecker has served FSIS for more than thirty years, beginning as a food inspector in 1988 and most recently serving as Administrator. His previous roles include experience across the Office of Field Operations and as a Compliance Investigator and Supervisory Compliance Investigator with the Office of Investigation, Enforcement and Audit. Mr. Kiecker has advanced the agency’s workforce recruitment effort and engagement with FSIS’ large team of field employees, among other key priorities.
“Each of these leaders brings a wealth of experience with FSIS, expertise in different aspects of the agency’s mission, and a personal commitment to protecting public health by ensuring a safe food supply,” said Dr. Emilio Esteban, USDA Under Secretary for Food Safety. “I am honored to work alongside them, and I look forward to seeing the path they will chart forward to advance food safety in the days and years to come.”
According to USDA’s website, these leadership changes will take effect Dec. 9, 2024.
On March 19, 2024, the USDA implemented revised regulations on organic foods. The overall purpose of the revisions is to strengthen enforcement of the regulations, with a focus on greater accountability for organic food fraud. This article does not go into every detail of the changes. That would be a long and rather dull read, and you could just as well go read the new regulations for yourself. But it does highlight some of what this writer believes are the most significant changes, and to the extent your compliance with the organic regulations has been on autopilot, this is a reminder to take the wheel and make sure you know how the new regulations affect you.
Perhaps the most significant change is to the scope of what it means to “handle” organic products. Before the revisions, handling meant selling, processing, or packaging agricultural products. Now, handling includes trading, facilitating the sale or trade on behalf of a seller or yourself, importing and exporting, as well as a number of other activities including conditioning, containerizing, and labeling. Thus, the universe of individuals and entities that could be on the hook for organic fraud, and who may need to be certified by the USDA, just got significantly larger. What this means is that even if all you do is hit buttons on a computer keyboard, and you never lay your hands on a piece of produce, you can still be responsible if the product you are trading turns out to be falsely labeled or otherwise noncompliant. There are exemptions from certification, but you still need to be compliant with the rules.
There are some changes in exemptions under the revised rule. Restaurants and stores that cook or prepare food and then sell it to consumers at the same location are exempt. But online sellers are not. Companies that store packaged and sealed products are exempt, but those who store bulk and unpackaged products must be certified. Customs brokers and logistics brokers – those who merely connect operations with carriers and storage facilities – are exempt. Likewise, businesses whose only job is to transport products are exempt, but handlers must still use audit trails and traceability to ensure that their carrier does not compromise the organic integrity of the product.
With respect to fraud, the term “organic fraud” is now defined, as “deceptive representation, sale or labeling of nonorganic agricultural products or ingredients as . . . organic.” New regulations relating to traceability make it easier to follow a product from birth to sale. New language requires certified operations to keep records that “span the time of purchase or acquisition, through production, to sale or transport and be traceable back to the last certified operation.” And certifying agents must conduct risk-based supply chain traceability audits to trace products across multiple links in a supply chain.
These are just some of the changes that USDA has made to ensure that consumers paying a premium for organic products are getting what they pay for. If you are part of the chain of organic products, then make sure you know how the changes affect your organization.
Last week, the U.S. Embassy in Mexico said two employees of the U.S.D.A.’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service were assaulted and detained while traveling in the Mexican state of Michoacán, where they had been surveying orchards and packing plants. The employees were later released, but the episode led to a temporary halt of inspections of avocados and mangoes destined for the United States. A “satisfactory” proposal on worker safety allowed the inspectors to return to work, Ken Salazar, the U.S. ambassador to Mexico, said last Monday.
Inspectors employed by a unit of the U.S.D.A. vet producers and packing plants in Mexico as part of a program designed to make sure orchards and other facilities that handle the crops are free of pests and comply with food safety standards.
According to the Embassy’s website, security incidents in Mexico have not been limited to the avocado program. In 2020, a USDA employee who carried out screening and eradication activities in support of fruit and pest and citrus disease programs in northern Mexico was killed. In the case of concern, an APHIS inspector questioned the integrity of a particular shipment, and refused to certify it on the basis of specific issues. The USDA inspector’s supervisor later received a telephone threat against him and his family.
According to the June 28, 2024 USDA Constituent Update, FSIS evaluated commercially available pathogen screening technologies and will adopt a new rapid screening test for adulterant Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC). Specifically, FSIS will use the bioMérieux GENE-UP® Pathogenic E. coli (PEC) platform to screen enriched samples received on or after September 16, 2024, for adulterant STEC. This screening method adds efficiency by employing a novel molecular diagnostic target to rapidly identify samples containing STEC. FSIS expects that adoption of this new screening method will reduce the number of potential–and presumptive–positive STEC results that do not confirm positive with our current method. FSIS expects that industry will see reduced product holding times while waiting for laboratory results.
USDA announced that the agency has awarded bioMérieux’s Gene-Up® Campylobacter as the method of
choice for Campylobacter Detection in USDA FSIS Labs. GENE-UP® CAMPYLOBACTER is a real-time PCR-based solution that delivers results in under an hour and is AOAC validated for a variety of enrichment medias.
“We are thrilled to be awarded this contract by the USDA-FSIS. With the inclusion of GENE-UP® CAMPYLOBACTER, bioMérieux now has the most FSIS methods of choice for microbiology than any other diagnostics provider,” says Miguel Villa, Sr. Vice President, Americas, Industrial Applications, at bioMérieux. “This is a testament to our continued dedication to providing innovation within the animal protein sector and the food industry at large, reinforcing GENE-UP® as the full solution for all molecular testing needs in one place.”
The GENE-UP® CAMPYLOBACTER assay is the latest of bioMérieux’s molecular diagnostic solutions to be recognized by food safety regulatory bodies in the United States. Earlier this year, bioMérieux announced a research collaboration to improve microbial detection of food-borne pathogens with the Food and Drug Administration, and in 2022,
the USDA named bioMérieux’s GENE-UP® QUANT Salmonella quantification method of choice in all FSIS laboratories, with both GENE-UP® QUANT Salmonella and TEMPO® solutions currently included in the USDA Microbiology Laboratory Guidebook (MLG).
“Our Augmented Diagnostics approach helps food industry leaders go beyond the test results and harness data, genomics, and diagnostic insights to solve the toughest problems,” says John Shultz, Sr. Director, Sales and Marketing, Industrial Applications, at bioMérieux. “The recognition of GENE-UP® CAMPYLOBACTER as the method of choice of the USDA is yet another way that bioMérieux helps facilitate and advance the science of food safety and protect public health.”
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the White House announced the National Strategy for Reducing Food Loss and Waste and Recycling Organics as part of President Biden’s whole-of-government approach to tackle climate change, feed people, address environmental justice, and promote a circular economy.
According to the USDA’s press release, the strategy released on June 12 provides tangible goals that the U.S. government partners along with retailers and consumers can work toward to help further prevent the loss and waste of food, increase recycling of food and other organic materials to support a more circular economy for all, reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, save households and businesses money, and build cleaner, healthier communities.
“USDA is committed to reducing food loss and waste, facilitating many programs and activities to engage farmers, producers, communities and businesses in this collective effort,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “This National Strategy charts a course to reduce our nation’s food loss and waste by 50% by 2030, and I am encouraged by the actions outlined for USDA and our federal partners. Everyone has a role to play in reducing food loss and waste, and I hope that these federal commitments will inspire and catalyze action in the private sector and communities around the U.S.”
“The FDA is committed to completing the actions outlined in the National Strategy that incentivize and encourage food loss and waste prevention and organics recycling,” said FDA Commissioner Robert M. Califf, M.D. “Along with the FDA, USDA and EPA efforts, U.S. consumers and retailers play an important role in meeting the National Strategy’s goal of reducing food loss and waste by 2030. As part of the release of this strategy, the FDA has made important resources available to guide, support, and accelerate their food loss and waste activities including the 2022 Food Code, Tips to Reduce Food Waste and the Food Loss and Waste Social Media Toolkit. We encourage all stakeholders to take advantage of these resources as we work together to reduce food loss and waste.”
The strategy drives progress toward the National Food Loss and Waste Reduction Goal to reduce the loss and waste of food by 50% by 2030.
The strategy highlights four objectives:
Objective 1: Prevent food loss.
Objective 2: Prevent food waste.
Objective 3: Increase the recycling rate for all organic waste.
Objective 4: Support policies that incentivize and encourage the prevention of food loss and waste and organics recycling.
For each objective, the strategy highlights actions that USDA, EPA, and FDA could take. Some of the priority USDA actions include:
* Investing $2.5 million from USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) to rigorously test and measure the effectiveness of different consumer messages to encourage households to reduce food waste, in preparation for a National Wasted Food Prevention Campaign.
* Funding a new NIFA $1.5 million Center for Research, Behavioral Economics, and Extension on Food Loss and Waste to create meaningful momentum on food loss and waste prevention among land-grant universities, their partners and external stakeholders.
* Funding research and development on new food loss and waste innovations, such as innovative new packaging technology and cultivars to extend the shelf life of food and prevent loss.
* The Risk Management Agency (RMA) is working with farmers, crop insurance agents, and gleaning organizations to encourage the reduction of on-farm food loss.
The strategy also highlights the importance of public-private partnerships in reducing food loss and waste. On June 1, the three agencies renewed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Food Waste Reduction Alliance (FWRA), which is comprised of the Consumer Brands Association, FMI – The Food Industry Association, and the National Restaurant Association. This public-private partnership will explore actions to reach industry sectors, through efforts such as targeted industry resources, tools, and guidance.
Additionally, USDA and EPA have been actively growing the U.S. Food Loss and Waste 2030 Champions pledge, through which food business have publicly committed to reducing food loss and waste by 50% by 2030 in their U.S. operations. 2030 Champions include industry giants such as Starbucks, Hilton, and Kroger.
The National Strategy builds on USDA’s prior work to reduce food loss and waste, including over $60 million in investments and activities that USDA has undertaken to reduce food loss and waste, including those announced in May.
For more information about Food Loss and Waste Reduction activities visit:
* USDA: Food Loss and Waste
* FDA: Food Loss and Waste
Learn more about The Impacts of Food Loss and Waste (FLW) and Food Donation at the Food Safety Consortium Conference, October 20-22 in Washington DC. This session will discuss how unique solutions such as thorough data tracking and predictive analytics in addition to a focus on food safety ultimately provides bottom-line benefits and positive community health outcomes. Presenters:
Al Baroudi, MS, Ph.D. Vice President, QA & Food Safety, The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated
Glenda Lewis, MSPH, Supervisory Consumer Safety Officer Director, Retail Food Protection Staff, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
The USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has launched a new feature on its website that enables software developers to access data on recalls and public health alerts through an application programming interface (API), allowing the public to access critical and timely public health information.
Currently, FSIS issues recall communications to alert consumers of potential food safety issues related to FSIS-regulated products. The API will act as a bridge, allowing software developers to leverage FSIS recall data to create new products for consumers or incorporate them into existing digital services and mobile apps. The agency’s recall and public health alert information continues to be publicly available through the FSIS website, Twitter, FoodSafety.gov, an RSS feed, and annual recall data summaries.
“Transparency, innovation, and collaboration are essential to public health,” said USDA Under Secretary for Food Safety Dr. Emilio Esteban. “By opening critical data through public APIs, third-party software developers will be able to expand the reach of our information among American consumers far beyond what FSIS could do on its own.”
Since January 2020, FSIS has migrated several applications from on-premises legacy software to cloud systems, including the FSIS public website in 2021. The cloud-based infrastructure for the website laid the foundation to build out the recall API. In addition to recall data, FSIS is working on APIs for other critical datasets.
For more information on how to use the FSIS’ recall API and other developer resources, visit the API webpage.
Food safety and quality professionals can take advantage of three days of education, networking and panel discussions at the 11th Annual Food Safety Consortium, October 16-18 in Parsippany, New Jersey. This year’s event is co-located with the Cannabis Quality Conference and Food Defense Consortium.
Keynote Speakers: Erik P. Mettler, MPA, MPH, Assistant Commissioner for Partnerships and Policy, Office of Partnerships and Operational Policy, Office of Regulatory Affairs (ORA) at FDA, and Sandra Eskin, Deputy Undersecretary Food Safety, USDA, Food Safety & Inspection Service.
Following the keynote presentations, attendees can take part in a Town Hall Q&A with Mettler and Eskin, followed by a panel discussion on Modernizing the U.S. Food Safety System, featuring Stephen Ostroff. Former FDA Commissioner, Barbara Kowalcyk, Executive Director of the Center for Foodborne Illness Research and Prevention, and Bill Marler, Attorney with Food Safety Law Firm Marler Clark.
This year’s program includes four pre-conference workshops, taking place on Monday, October 16:
Food Safety Culture Design Workshop
CP-FS Credential Review Course
Food Safety Auditor Training
The Seed to Sale Safety Workshop
Days two and three feature panel discussions covering food safety culture, supply chain, recall patterns and succession planning, as well as breakout sessions on prevention, mitigation, control and regulation of key food safety hazards. Session highlights include:
Re-Imagining Food Protection as a National Security Issue – DHS Perspective, Presented by Mark Wittrock, Assistant Director – Health, Food, and Agriculture Resilience Office of Health Security, U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
The Rise of Previously Unforeseen Hazards, Presented by Tim Lombardo, EAS Consulting
Food Safety Supply Chain Management, Presented by Celso Pagutalan, ASR Group
Succession Planning for Food Safety Inspectors, Panelists: Gina Nicholson Kramer, April Bishop of TreeHouse Foods, Barbara Kowalcyk, Executive Director of the Center for Foodborne Illness Research and Prevention, Erik P. Mettler, MPA, MPH, Assistant Commissioner for Partnerships and Policy, Office of Regulatory Affairs (ORA) at FDA, Rance Baker of NEHA, and Jorge Hernandez of Wendy’s
Food Safety Culture: Creating a “Speak Up Culture,” Presented by Austin Welch, Sage Media
Risk Mitigation through Assessment, Testing, Monitoring and Compliance, Presented by Dr. Sandra Johnson, SGS North America
Recalls Trends, Regulation and Lessons Learned, Panelists: Erik P. Mettler, MPA, MPH, Assistant Commissioner for Partnerships and Policy, Office of Regulatory Affairs (ORA) at FDA, Shawn Stevens, attorney with the Food Industry Counsel, and Stephen Ostroff, M.D. former Acting FDA Commissioner.
Food Allergen Advisory Labeling, Presented by Dr. Steven Gendel
Don’t miss out on opportunities to network with other food safety and quality professionals during the opening night reception, networking lunches and coffee breaks.
This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Strictly Necessary Cookies
Strictly Necessary Cookies should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for these cookie settings.
We use tracking pixels that set your arrival time at our website, this is used as part of our anti-spam and security measures. Disabling this tracking pixel would disable some of our security measures, and is therefore considered necessary for the safe operation of the website. This tracking pixel is cleared from your system when you delete files in your history.
We also use cookies to store your preferences regarding the setting of 3rd Party Cookies.
If you visit and/or use the FST Training Calendar, cookies are used to store your search terms, and keep track of which records you have seen already. Without these cookies, the Training Calendar would not work.
If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.
Cookie Policy
A browser cookie is a small piece of data that is stored on your device to help websites and mobile apps remember things about you. Other technologies, including Web storage and identifiers associated with your device, may be used for similar purposes. In this policy, we say “cookies” to discuss all of these technologies.
Our Privacy Policy explains how we collect and use information from and about you when you use This website and certain other Innovative Publishing Co LLC services. This policy explains more about how we use cookies and your related choices.
How We Use Cookies
Data generated from cookies and other behavioral tracking technology is not made available to any outside parties, and is only used in the aggregate to make editorial decisions for the websites. Most browsers are initially set up to accept cookies, but you can reset your browser to refuse all cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being sent by visiting this Cookies Policy page. If your cookies are disabled in the browser, neither the tracking cookie nor the preference cookie is set, and you are in effect opted-out.
In other cases, our advertisers request to use third-party tracking to verify our ad delivery, or to remarket their products and/or services to you on other websites. You may opt-out of these tracking pixels by adjusting the Do Not Track settings in your browser, or by visiting the Network Advertising Initiative Opt Out page.
You have control over whether, how, and when cookies and other tracking technologies are installed on your devices. Although each browser is different, most browsers enable their users to access and edit their cookie preferences in their browser settings. The rejection or disabling of some cookies may impact certain features of the site or to cause some of the website’s services not to function properly.
Individuals may opt-out of 3rd Party Cookies used on IPC websites by adjusting your cookie preferences through this Cookie Preferences tool, or by setting web browser settings to refuse cookies and similar tracking mechanisms. Please note that web browsers operate using different identifiers. As such, you must adjust your settings in each web browser and for each computer or device on which you would like to opt-out on. Further, if you simply delete your cookies, you will need to remove cookies from your device after every visit to the websites. You may download a browser plugin that will help you maintain your opt-out choices by visiting www.aboutads.info/pmc. You may block cookies entirely by disabling cookie use in your browser or by setting your browser to ask for your permission before setting a cookie. Blocking cookies entirely may cause some websites to work incorrectly or less effectively.
The use of online tracking mechanisms by third parties is subject to those third parties’ own privacy policies, and not this Policy. If you prefer to prevent third parties from setting and accessing cookies on your computer, you may set your browser to block all cookies. Additionally, you may remove yourself from the targeted advertising of companies within the Network Advertising Initiative by opting out here, or of companies participating in the Digital Advertising Alliance program by opting out here.
