In the news

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue today announced the appointment of 18 new members and 12 returning members to the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods (NACMCF). “Food safety and ensuring public health continue to be at the forefront of USDA’s mission,” said Perdue. “The committee members represent a diverse group from academia, consumers, the food industry, laboratories, consultants, and government agencies all of which play an important role in providing scientific advice and expertise to USDA on food safety and wholesomeness.” NACMCF is a discretionary advisory committee that provides impartial scientific advice and peer reviews to food safety agencies on public health issues related to the safety and wholesomeness of domestic, imported and exported foods. @ https://www.usda.gov/media/press-releases/2018/05/14/secretary-perdue-appoints-new-members-national-advisory-committee

Researchers at China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp developed a handheld device for food market shoppers, China Daily reported. The small “freshness sniffer”, is an electronic device that determines the freshness of meat. Niu Ye, an engineer at the institute who is in charge of the product’s development, said: “You open the device and an application on your mobile phone and then place the device very close to the meat for about 10 seconds.”The “freshness sniffer” is connected with the mobile phone via Bluetooth. It detects and measures the presence of ammonia and volatile organic compounds to determine bacteriological activity in uncooked meat. The gadget can be used with almost every kind of meat — including pork, beef, mutton, chicken and even fish — Niu said. The first version of the device is 80-90 percent accurate, and further upgrades of the hardware and app will increase the accuracy. @ http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2018-05/07/c_137161711.htm

The FDA was able to trace back the source of some of the eggs to the Rose Acre Farms’ Hyde County farm after learning that all of the people who became ill ate eggs or egg dishes. FDA analysis of the samples revealed that the same strain of Salmonella Braenderup that caused the illnesses was present at the Hyde County Egg facility, connecting the facility to the outbreak. These eggs are sold under multiple brand names, including Coburn Farms, Country Daybreak, Food Lion, Glenview, Great Value, Nelms, Sunshine Farms, Publix, and Sunups. Recalled eggs were also sold to restaurants. The CDC reports that 35 people infected with the outbreak strain of Salmonella Braenderup have been reported from 9 states: Colorado (1), Florida (2), New Jersey (1), New York (8), North Carolina (5), Pennsylvania (6), South Carolina (3), Virginia (8), and West Virginia (1). 11 people have been hospitalized, and no deaths have been reported. @ https://www.fda.gov/Food/RecallsOutbreaksEmergencies/Outbreaks/UCM604644.htm

A new report just published by GFSI talks about food fraud and how it fits in the food safety system. With FSMA rules relating to food fraud getting ready to be implemented it gives insight into food fraud vulnerability assessment, and food fraud mitigation. How to create the plans, implement them and audit the plan. @ https://www.mygfsi.com/news-resources/news/news-blog/1396-tackling-food-fraud-through-food-safety-management-systems.html