blog-post

The Announcement The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) reported that there have been 12 cases of a rare strain of E. coli O121.  The illness onset dates range from November to December 2016, and include 9 males and 4 females, age of 9-79 years old. The recovered E. coli with a matching genetic fingerprint reported in three provinces: British Columbia (4), Saskatchewan (4), and Newfoundland and Labrador (4). Four individuals have been hospitalized. These individuals have recovered or are recovering. The investigation into the source of the outbreak of the relatively rare E. coli O121 contamination is ongoing. PHAC said that two of the most common ways...

A comprehensive study by ARS (Agricultural Research Services) on the environmental footprint of beef life cycle in the US was completed.The study concluded that cattle convert feed to food as efficiently, as pork and poultry, is not a large contributor to global warming. The goal of the study was to establish baseline measures that the U.S. beef industry can use to explore ways of reducing its environmental footprint and improve sustainability. “We found that the greenhouse gas emissions in our analysis were not all that different from what other credible studies had shown and were not a significant contributor to long-term global...

Intentional adulteration (IA) can take several forms: acts intended to cause wide-scale public health harm (such as terrorism) focused on the food supply; acts of disgruntled employees, consumers, or competitors; and economically motivated adulteration (EMA).  The first type of act is the center of the regulation because it is intended to cause wide-scale public health harm with intent to cause significant human morbidity and mortality. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration released today a revised draft guidance, “Mitigation Strategies to Protect Food Against Intentional Adulteration: Guidance for Industry,” to support compliance with the intentional adulteration (IA) rule set forth under the...

The CDC and the FDA decision to order the removal of all romaine lettuce from supermarket shelves costs supermarkets millions of dollars. It also sent a very strong warning to the produce sector. Food Drive quoted David Acheson saying “It’s very effective, but talk about taking a sledgehammer to crack a walnut.” Having three outbreaks of E. coli in romaine lettuce in such a short time is unacceptable. Consumers feel that the repeat outbreaks indicate that no one is protecting the public and consequently a number of lawsuits have been filled. For example, the Lange Law Firm filed its first lawsuit in the latest...