News tagged with 'food Safety'

Filing a slip and fall case in Florida was just made more difficult thanks to a new law promoted by retailers. Private attorneys are lining up to prepare a large reparations request for BP, and thanks to one whistle blower, we now have a better understanding how WellCare Health Plans defrauded the government.

The FDA needs to be remade from the bottom up says a new report from the Institute of Medicine, citing lapses in inspections, standards and authority.

Lifesoy Inc. of San Diego has agreed to a permanent injunction to stop operations after the FDA inspectors observed dirty conditions in violation of sanitation rules.

The New York Times wins a Pulitzer prize on the horrors of a contaminated food consumed by Stephanie Smith - an E. coli hamburger. The reporting led to improvements in practice. Four other prize winners won for stories that chronicled safety and health.

The FDA plans to increase misdemeanor prosecutions of executives in the pharmaceutical and food industry after a lax performance in that area.

In a major compromise with the cattle industry, the Obama administratin is abandoning a plan to trace diseased livestock and says it will take another two years to find a workable national system that does not put the burden and cost on ranchers.

Food-borne infections can have long-lasting health effects that can be as serious as kidney failure, paralysis, hearing or visual impairments, according to a recent study by the Center for Food-borne Illness Research and Prevention.

You may buy organic food because you feel it tastes better, is safer and more environmentally sound, but you shouldn’t buy it for nutritional benefits, according to a new report in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

At the House Agriculture Committee hearing on Thursday, livestock and grain farmers disagreed about proposed legislation to overhaul the nation’s food-safety system and don’t want the Food and Drug Administration inspecting farms.

Pistachio nuts contaminated with salmonella may have been repackaged instead of recalled.  Check for the brands in airports and hotels. 

Pistachio nuts are the latest focus of an FDA recall due to salmonella contamination. Several people have been sickened though the type of salmonella found in the nuts has not yet been positively linked to their illness. 

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) inspector general’s office conducted a test of the food tracing system and found most companies don’t keep required records showing where products came from and to whom they are sold which undermines the FDA's ability to trace the source of a foodborne illness or bioterrorism attack.

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill are introducing new legislation that would give the U.S. Food and Drug Administration new control to order recalls and open companies’ internal records for inspection.

Expect big news, perhaps this week, as a new FDA head is named.  President  Obama said today that he may call for an entire revamping of our food inspection system, following the salmonella outbreak across the country. Meanwhile more stores and products are announcing recalls.

Both the state of Georiga and the Department of Justice are looking at filing criminal charges against  Peanut Corporation of America. An inspection report should have raised a red flag that the company had extensive salmonella contamination that was not contained.