Latest in Food Tradeshows

Idaho Technology recently participated in two industry tradeshows: Food Safety Summit was held in Washington, DC April 12-14 and United Fresh was held in Las Vegas April 20-22. We were able to debut our new booth and new Idaho Technology logo and tagline.

United Fresh 2010 had a dedicated area focused exclusively on food safety solutions for growers to retailers and offered attendees a unique Food Safety Demo Center. The center displayed food safety products, innovations and solutions, and the latest in food safety regulatory activities. Idaho Technology was thrilled to be a part of this event and showcase our real-time PCR instrument the R.A.P.I.D.® LT Food Security System with kits for testing Salmonella, Listeria and E.coli O157:H7.

The 12th Annual Food Safety Summit featured a full program of intensive educational seminars, industry and government keynote speakers, workshops, networking events and a large trade show exhibition. This year the Summit addressed the challenges of the Global Food Community. Idaho Technology participated as an exhibitor and also presented our poster on:

	Development of High Volume Reagent Kits for Idaho Technology’s R.A.P.I.D.® LT Food Security System to Increase Sample Throughput

To see the poster and all Idaho Technology posters please click here

Meat Safety and Accountability Act introduced

On March 26, 2010 MeatPoultry.com published an article on Senator Jon Tester's efforts in introducing the Meat Safety and Accountability Act. This proposed legislation is designed to have the U.S. Food Safety and Inspection Service implement a program to trace contaminated meat back to the original source of contamination. In addition, the bill also seeks to improve testing at meat suppliers and individual meat processors in the case of an outbreak.

According to Senator Tester, “this bill puts more common sense and fairness into the equation as our food travels through the supply chain to the kitchen table. This bill will make our food safer to eat by ramping up accountability. And it will help small meat processors in rural America that too often get blamed for contamination that didn’t begin with them.”

The Meat Safety and Accountability Act will next go to the Senate Agriculture Committee. Read more at: http://tinyurl.com/yg9tqzk

F.S.I.S. seeks comments on enhancing food safety

Thought I'd pass along this article written by Eric Schroeder and posted 3/25/2010 in FoodBusinessNews.net:

WASHINGTON — The Food Safety and Inspection Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture is seeking comments until May 24 on proposed measures to enhance food safety.

“One year ago the president called on government to do more to ensure our food is safe, and we are working aggressively every day to improve the food safety system in the United States,” said Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack. “The steps we are announcing today will help prevent foodborne illness as well as speed our response when illnesses occur — two goals of the Food Safety Working Group.”

The F.S.I.S. said the new proposed rule would require regulated establishments adhere to three things: 1) Promptly notify F.S.I.S. if any unsafe, unwholesome or misbranded meat or poultry product has entered commerce; 2) Prepare and maintain current procedures for the recall of meat and poultry products produced and shipped by the establishment; and 3) Document each reassessment of the establishment’s process control plans or Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) plans.

Comments regarding the adopted regulations must be received by May 24 through the Federal eRulemaking Portal at www.regulations.gov, or by mail to: Docket Clerk, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food Safety and Inspection Service, Room 2-2127, George Washington Carver Center, 5601 Sunnyside Avenue, Mailstop 5474, Beltsville, MD 20705-5474. All submissions received through the Federal eRulemaking Portal or by mail must reference the Food Safety and Inspection Service and include the docket number “FSIS-2008-0025.”

http://tinyurl.com/yeap5aq

More or Less Food Safety Regulation?

A recent article in Food Safety News by Andy Weisbecker poses this question... More or less food safety regulation? We know the rumblings on outbreaks and food safety issues are growing. Over the past weeks, a few news stories have highlighted the distinctions between two different legislative approaches to address the issue of food safety. The impetus is accordingly growing across the country to get the pending FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, which would give the FDA more authority and money, finally passed and enacted into law.

The American public seems to be in favor of more legislation. The article states that not only is the number of Americans concerned about outbreaks of illness linked to contaminated food increasing, the concern is also growing about the capacity of our existing food safety system to ensure our well being. A September 2009 survey among likely voters across the nation found that about 9 in 10 support the federal government adopting additional food safety measures and overall, 58 percent of voters were worried about bacterial contamination of the food supply--with about a third saying they worry "a great deal." The survey showed that American voters overwhelmingly believed the federal government should be responsible for protecting the food supply, and that the voters supported new measures to ensure it has the authority and capacity to do so.

However, opponents argue that this proposed legislation favors an industrial agricultural system, and that local food systems provide significant food safety benefits. In both Wyoming and Florida, state legislatures are considering bills to lessen the regulation of local "cottage" foods, with their proponents arguing at least in part that this approach would increase food safety.

What do you think? Is more or less better?

To read the full story and understand both sides of the issue, click here.

Foodborne Illnesses in U.S. Cost $152B Annually

An article today in Business Week by Steven Reinberg states that foodborne illnesses cost the United States an estimated $152 billion each year in health-related expenses.

"These costs are significantly more than previous official estimates, and it demonstrates the serious burden that food-borne illness places on society," Sandra Eskin, director of the Food Safety Campaign at the Pew Charitable Trusts in Washington, D.C., said during a Tuesday press conference.

These health-related costs include physician services, hospital services, medicines and also quality-of-life losses, such as deaths, pain, suffering and disability.

According to federal statistics, it is estimated that each year 76 million Americans are sickened by contaminated food, with 5,000 of these illnesses becoming fatal.

Illnesses from well recognized pathogens play the largest role. For example, costs related to campylobacter exceed $18.8 billion annually; costs linked to salmonella are estimated at $14.6 billion; and costs related to listeria are $8.8 billion, according to the report.

And the majority of these foodborne illnesses are caused by produce, which are regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Thirty-nine percent of E. coli outbreaks were due to produce regulated by the FDA.

It is hoped that the report will spur Congress to pass food safety legislation to strengthen the FDA's food safety efforts and give the agency more authority over the foods it regulates and more funding to make the food supply safer.

Please click here to read the full article.

Fed food safety budgets may increase, but not enough?

According to an article published in Food Engineering February 12, 2010 the upcoming increase in spending by the FDA will not be enough for food safety budgets. Here is the article:

While many federal agencies are facing a freeze in discretionary spending in the next budget, FDA is a notable exception. FDA's budget could actually grow by as much as 23 percent, with much of the new spending focused on food safety.

If Congress approves, it will be food manufacturers who pay for much of the increase in higher user fees. The fees, which would also be paid by generic drug makers, are a big part of the FDA's expanded food safety mandate. It entails more inspections and improved data collection. Under the FDA's proposed budget, the agency's staff could also grow by 10 percent.

Meanwhile, USDA's proposed budget allocation is $149 billion in the coming fiscal year, with discretionary spending down 18 percent over 2009 spending levels. Entitlement spending, however, is up 28 percent. More than 70 percent of USDA's entire budget would pay for nutrition assistance programs.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) praised the proposed increase for FDA but noted funding for USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service remains essentially frozen with what she termed a “miniscule” 1.9 percent increase.

“The FSIS is responsible for front-line inspections and recalls, and will be stretched beyond its capacity by the growing population of our country and the resulting increase in food consumption,” DeLauro said in a statement. “FSIS should be given the resources to perform the critical food safety activities that comprise USDA’s public health mission area.”

What are your thoughts? Is the increased spending and focus on food safety enough to combat recent outbreaks and promote food safety initiatives? How can the FSIS keep up on front-line inspections without a larger budget increase?

FDA requests more than $4 billion for safety

On February 1st, the FDA stated that it is requesting $4.03 billion to promote and protect public health as part of President Obama’s fiscal 2011 budget. The request represents a 23% increase over the current $3.28 billion budget and would include an increase of $318.3 million related to improving food safety.

“The FY 2011 resources will strengthen our ability to act as a strong and smart regulator, protecting Americans through every stage of life, many times each day,” said Margaret Hamburg, commissioner of the FDA “This budget supports the ability for patients and families to realize the benefits of science that are yielding revolutionary advances in the life and biomedical sciences.”

The FDA said this budget requests shows its “resolve to transform food safety practices, improve medical product safety, protect patients and modernize FDA regulatory science to advance public health.”

As part of the Transforming Food Safety initiative, the FDA said it plans to set standards for safety, expand laboratory capacity, pilot track and trace technology, strengthen its import safety program, improve data collection and risk analysis and begin to establish an integrated national food safety system with strengthened inspection and response capacity.

What do you think? Is the proposed budget too much or right on target?