Tag Archives: USDA

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

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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.”

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Thousands of Pounds of Meatballs Recalled Over Listeria Worry

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Rich Products Corp. recalled 3.420 pounds of ready-to-eat beef meatball products over concerns that they may be adulterated with Listeria monocytogenes. The recalled products, which were produced on December 17, 2017, include 36-lb cases that contain six bags of “Member’s Mark Casa Di Bertacchi Italian Style Beef Meatballs with a “best by” date of December 17, 2018. The meatballs were shipped to distributors in the South, including Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, North Carolina, Texas and Virginia. The issue was discovered on January 24 when FSIS was notified by Rich Products that it shipped adulterated products into commerce. More information about the meatball recall is available on USDA’s website.

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What USDA Will Do During Government Shutdown

By Food Safety Tech Staff
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Despite the government shutdown, certain aspects of the USDA will continue to operate. On Friday, USDA issued a release in which U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue outlined the services that will continue to be available, including the following:

  • Ensuring meat, poultry and egg products are safe
  • Inspect before and after bird and animal slaughter for food intended for humans
  • Apply foreign government inspection requirements and procedures
  • Conduct emergency operations related to voluntary meat and poultry products
  • Conduct epidemiological investigations related to foodborne health hazards and disease outbreaks, and provide pathological, microbiological, and chemical examination of USDA regulated products for disease, infection, contamination and adulteration
  • Prevent movement of adulterated product

A full outline of the government shutdown plan is available on the USDA website.

Eggs

USDA Proposes Rule to Make Egg Products Safer

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Eggs

Earlier this week the USDA’s FSIS proposed to amend inspection regulations, modernizing food safety inspection systems, in an effort to make egg products safer. It would require official plants that process egg products to develop HACCP systems, sanitation standard operating procedures and meet sanitation requirements consistent with meat and poultry regulations.

“FSIS is proposing that official plants will be required to produce egg products in such a way that the finished product is free of detectable pathogens,” according to a USDA news release. “The regulatory amendment also uses agency’s resources more efficiently and removes unnecessary regulatory obstacles to innovation.”

FSIS will also be taking over jurisdiction of egg substitutes.

According to the agency, the financial impact of the proposed rule could be minimal, as it states 93% of egg products plants already have a written HACCP plan that deals with at least one production step in the process.

Once published in the Federal Register, a 120-comment period will go into effect.

Listeria

Four Pathogens Cause Nearly 2 Million Foodborne Illness Cases a Year

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Listeria

The CDC estimates that Salmonella, E. coli O157, Listeria monocytogenes and Campylobacter cause 1.9 million cases of foodborne illness in the United States. A report just released from the Interagency Food Safety Analytics Collaboration (IFSAC) analyzed data from more than 1000 foodborne disease outbreaks involving these pathogens from1998 through 2013.

The report found the following:

  • Salmonella illnesses came from a wide variety of foods (more than 75% came from the seven food categories of seeded vegetables, eggs, chicken, other produce, pork, beef and fruit.
  • More than 75% of E.coli O157 illnesses were linked to vegetable row crops, like leaf greens, and beef.
  • More than 75% of Listeria monocytogenes illnesses came from fruits and dairy products.
  • More than 80% of non-dairy Campylobacter illnesses were linked to chicken, other seafood (i.e., shellfish), seeded vegetables, vegetable row crops, and other meat and poultry (i.e., lamb or duck).

A copy of the report, “Foodborne illness source attribution estimates for 2013 for Salmonella, Escherichia coli O157, Listeria monocytogenes, and Campylobacter using multi-year outbreak surveillance data, United States”, is available on the CDC’s website.

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New Leadership at USDA, Almanza Heads to JBS

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Over the past week, the USDA has undergone changes in top leadership. Following 39 years with FSIS, Deputy Undersecretary for Food Safety and FSIS Administrator Al Almanza retired. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced the appointment of Carmen Rottenberg as acting deputy undersecretary for food safety and Paul Kiecker was named acting administrator for FSIS. Rottenberg and Kiecker will serve in these roles until presidential nominees are confirmed by the Senate.

“Highlights for me have been using a science-based approach to modernize the poultry slaughter inspection system, implementing the Public Health Information System (PHIS), reducing listeriosis and E. coli O157:H7 illnesses from FSIS-regulated products and adding six other dangerous strains of E. coli to the zero-tolerance list, and implementing performance standards for Campylobacter and Salmonella.” – Al Almanza reflecting on his time leading the USDA

Almanza has been hired by U.S.-based meat processor JBS to serve as the global head of food safety and quality assurance. The company has more than 300,000 customers in more than 150 countries. “During his long and storied career at FSIS, Al earned the respect and admiration of his peers for his team-based management approach and his willingness to partner with both industry and public health organizations to ensure the provision of safe, quality food to consumers,” said JBS Global President of Operations Gilberto Tomazoni in a company press release. “JBS is privileged to have someone of Al’s caliber join our company.”

Sabrett hot dog recall

More than 7 Million Pounds of Hot Dogs Recalled Nationwide

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Sabrett hot dog recall

On Saturday the USDA announced a Class I nationwide recall of 7,196,084 pounds of hot dog products from Marathon Enterprises, Inc. Produced between March 17, 2017 and July 4, 2017, the certain beef and pork hot dog and sausage items may contain bone fragments.

The issue was uncovered via the FSIS Complaint Monitoring System on July 10, which stated that pieces of bone were found in the product. No injuries have been reported yet.

USDA Recall Classification of Class I Recall: “This is a health hazard situation where there is a reasonable probability that the use of the product will cause serious, adverse health consequences or death.”

FSIS has posted a full list of the recalled items on its website.

Beef ban

USDA Suspends Imports of All Fresh Beef from Brazil

By Food Safety Tech Staff
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Beef ban

Yesterday Sonny Perdue, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture announced that the USDA would be halting all imports of fresh beef from Brazil. The USDA has been inspecting all of the meat products entering the United States from Brazil since March, and has refused entry to 11% of fresh beef products. According to an agency press release, this figure is “substantially higher than the rejection rate of 1% of shipments from the rest of the world”. The increased inspection has resulted in refusal of entry to about 1.9 million pounds of Brazilian beef products over concerns related to public health, sanitary conditions and animal health.

“Although international trade is an important part of what we do at USDA, and Brazil has long been one of our partners, my first priority is to protect American consumers. That’s what we’ve done by halting the import of Brazilian fresh beef.” – Sonny Perdue, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture

The USDA is suspending shipments until the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture takes corrective action that the agency finds adequate.

Recall

325,000 Pounds of Meat Lard Products Recalled due to Processing Deviation

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Recall

On Friday the USDA announced a large recall of 325,000 pounds of meat and poultry fat and lard products by Supreme Cuisine. The Class I recall is due to a processing deviation that could cause bacterial pathogens to grow and survive in the products. The duck, beef and pork fat and lard products, which have a one-year shelf life, were produced and packaged from June 1, 2016 through May 8, 2017.

The issue was uncovered after Supreme Cuisine received a consumer complaint of a loose lid. There have been no confirmed reports of adverse reactions due to consumption of the products, and consumers are being urged to discard any of these products.

FSIS is providing a full list of the recalled products here on its website.

American beef

United States and China Finalize Details on Beef Exports

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American beef

On Tuesday Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced the posting of technical documents pertaining to the shipments of U.S. beef to China. Last month the United States and China reached a trade agreement that allowed the export of American beef to China, where the meat has been banned since 2003.

The USDA Agricultural Marketing Service posted the requirements for the Export Verification program for U.S. companies shipping to China. The program will allow packers to apply for approval to export to China. In addition, FSIS updated its online Export Library with China’s requirements for certifying U.S. beef.

According to the USDA, China’s beef imports have increased from $275 million in 2012 to $2.5 billion in 2016. As the world’s largest beef producer, the United States generated more than $5.4 billion in global sales last year.