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The recall of cheeses due to the presence of Listeria monocytogenes in Deutsch Käse Haus caused a snowball effect since Deutsch Käse Haus is a business–to-business provider of cheeses. Once a food recall is issued, each company that receives the contaminated products has to look at how contamination may have spread through its own plant. The situation becomes more complicated as supply chains grow longer and longer. The globalization of food supply chains makes widespread outbreaks more likely, and in some ways more difficult to track. It is hoped that the new FDA regulation as shown in the draft “Control of Listeria...

GLOBAL FOOD SAFETY INITIATIVE (GFSI) Launched in 2000, GFSI  is a worldwide industry and retail driven initiative, which mission is to “provide continuous improvement in food safety management systems to ensure confidence in the delivery of safe food to consumers worldwide”. Major international retailers (Walmart, Tesco, Carrefour, Mc Donald’s, …) and food manufacturing concerns (Nestlé, Coca Cola, Danone, …) are involved within GFSI board, technical committee and working groups for setting the common requirements and rules against which food safety management systems shall be benchmarked to get GFSI recognition. GFSI recognition motto is: “once certified, everywhere accepted”. Major buyers and retailers require...

Five months after the U.S. Marshals Service raided a powdered milk factory at the request of FDA, many companies are drawn into the Salmonella recall linked to milk powder and buttermilk produced by Valley Milk Products (VMP). The US Marshalls seized more than 4 million pounds of dried milk and buttermilk, due to possible Salmonella contamination, and down-stream food companies are still initiating recalls. Twinkies by Hostess This week the iconic snack Twinkies joined dozens of other food companies as a victim of a secondary recall because of Salmonella contamination at VMP. In the recall notice the company recited: “The confectionary coating contains milk powder ingredients recalled...

Growth promoters have been a controversial topic in production and the consumer understanding of the use in animals have raised food safety questions. To be simple it benefits producers and the consumer by increasing lean tissue growth in animals (specifically beef cattle) thus increasing weight gain in a shorter period of time – reducing feed costs and end cost to the consumer. But is it safe? The following has been quoted from the Health Canada web site :“Hormonal growth promoters occur naturally in animals. It is possible to raise beef cattle without the use of synthetic HGPs, however, the cost of production...