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On Nov. 23, the FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb Tweeted about a plans to allow romaine to return to the market. This will involve a new labeling standard to aid in tracing products. Dr. Gottlieb said, “the goal now is to withdraw the product that’s at risk of being contaminated from the market, and then re-stock the market.” Gottlieb also tweeted that romaine from different growing regions such as Arizona and Florida will soon be harvested. He said “We’re working with growers and distributors on labeling produce for location and harvest date and possibly other ways of informing consumers that the product is ‘post-purge.’” “We want to help unaffected growers get back into production and enable stores and consumers to re-stock,” Gottlieb tweeted. “One goal we’re seeking is to make this type of labeling the new standard rather than a short-term fix; as a way to improve identification and traceability in the system.” A member alert from United Fresh said that “This is an extremely broad warning to consumers to not eat any type of romaine from any growing region,”. “Despite our urging that industry could clearly identify some sources of romaine coming onto the market as not related to the outbreak, CDC and FDA are also requesting the voluntary withdrawal of romaine lettuce before it enters commerce.” According to a Western Growers statement “ … It is important to acknowledge that a number of regions in current production were not harvesting or shipping romaine at the onset of the outbreak and, consequently, could not be the source of the specific E. coli strain identified in the illnesses,”. “In light of this evidence, we urge the government’s health agencies to work with stakeholders to quickly narrow the scope of the investigation, and to remove these regions from the comprehensive advisory as soon as the safety of the public can be ensured.” @ https://www.thepacker.com/article/fda-looks-labeling-standard-plans-allow-romaine-return?mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiWTJVNVkyWXhabUV3WmpBNSIsInQiOiJqTXoyT2IwSDE1c3JkaE4rNXZVWm5LOUluWmlpV3BRUWxab3Y2WFk0aktua1N2aVlxbjNFbGJHTUIzYW5hUG9VMjFxWkVuTFo2ekwzdDN5NjNyYWdoY2Y5eG1GMU9iMFVEaGFPQkxEU3ZlZktCT1ZNSERcL1VNOU52ekhHUmI0NzEifQ%3D%3D

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In an article By Lois Harris talks about the increase in numbers of food recalls due to packaging of issues. While most manufacturers are very careful about the prevention of pathogens, it’s the final step of packaging where mistakes happen, resulting in recalls that waste valuable time and money, and damage a company’s reputation. One major area of concern is mislabeling of allergens. Manufacturers large and small have had to deal with this kind of problem. In the two months between July 12, 2018 and September 12, 2018, almost 60% of the recalls recorded on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration website were due to undeclared allergens (milk, wheat, egg, soy, almond, and peanut). “Each recall is hugely costly – between $3 million and $10 million – and damage to the brand name is on top of that,” says Dr. Ruth Eden, President of BioExpert, an online resource for the exchange of expert information on food safety. Eden cites the introduction of the U.S. Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act (FALCPA), which went into effect in 2006, for the increase in these types of recalls. The law is aimed at ensuring clearer labeling for consumers with food allergies. “The first line of defense is having labeling people who understand the nuances of the product, its ingredients and the requirements of the legislation,” Eden says, adding that problems can also occur further down the line when labels look the same and staff grabs the wrong ones or up the line when suppliers don’t declare allergens in the ingredients. @ https://globalfoodsafetyresource.com/packaging-training-crucial/

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced that Long Phung Food Products, Houston, Texas recalled an undetermined amount of ready-to-eat pork products that may be adulterated with Listeria monocytogenes. These items were shipped to distributors and retail locations nationwide. The FSIS was notified on October 22, 2018, of a cluster of listeriosis illnesses that were closely related. FSIS determined that there is a link between the Listeria monocytogenes illnesses and ready-to-eat pork products produced by Long Phung Foods. The epidemiologic investigation identified a total of four listeriosis confirmed illnesses between July 1, 2017, and October 24, 2018. On November 19, 2018, whole genome sequencing of investigative samples collected from Long Phung showed that the samples were closely related genetically to Listeria monocytogenes from ill people. @ https://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/portal/fsis/topics/recalls-and-public-health-alerts/recall-case-archive/archive/2018/recall-116-2018-release