Archive of April, 2024

Listeria monocytogenes was a major reason for recalls according to “summary of recall cases in Calendar Year 2016”, by the FSIS/USDA, accounting for over 80% of the total recall cases. Food Safety Tech reported that in 2016 in the US, close to 550 food products were recalled, and around 275 were recalled due to microbial contamination. Listeria monocytogenes was the cause of 65% of the microbiological recalls.   In the last few weeks, a number of products were recalled caused by fear of Listeria monocytogenes contamination. Club Chef LLC (Castellini Group subsidiaries) According to the FDA, Club Chef LLC recalled fresh cut produce and retail Snack Kits, due to...

In the last couple of months, more and more cases of Hepatitis A were in the news. In the most recent recall, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recalled frozen tuna steaks and cubes, after finding out that some tuna sold in California, Texas, and Oklahoma had been contaminated with hepatitis A. The Raw Tuna Recall History On May 1 the Hawaii Department of Health has alerted the FDA, that a sample of frozen tuna cubes originating in Indonesia tested positive for hepatitis A.  Next day, the FDA contacted the Tropic Fish Hawaii LLC, a subsidiary distributor of Hilo Fish Company, to...

Introduction Despite of everything we learned about the danger of raw milk and its products, the sales of raw or unpasteurized milk and milk products are still legal in at least 30 states in the United States.  Raw milk and milk products from cows, goats, and sheep continue to be a source of bacterial infections attributable to a number of virulent pathogens, including Listeria monocytogenes, Campylobacter jejuni, Salmonella species, Brucella species, and Escherichia coli O157. A report published in Emerging Infectious Diseases, Volume 23, Number 6—June 2017  by Solenne Costard , et,al. stated that the growing popularity of unpasteurized milk in the United States raised public health concerns. The authors estimated...

An interesting article was just published entitled “Crowdsourcing: A new conceptual view for food safety and quality” (Jan Mei Soon,  and I. Sam Saguy). Our website can be a source of answers by the registered users, and as such can be a venue for crowdsourcing. Definition of Crowd Sourcing According to Merriam-Webster ” Crowdsourcing is the practice of obtaining needed services, ideas, or content by soliciting contributions from a large group of people and especially from the online community rather than from traditional employees or suppliers” There is a trend of manufacturers of consumer goods for sourcing creative ideas from users particularly in...