Tag: food safety
-
Agency IG Chastises FDA for Lax Food-Facility Inspection Oversight
The Office of Inspector General (IG) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has issued a report that “identified significant weaknesses in FDA’s [the Food and Drug Administration’s] oversight” of its contracts for state inspections of food facilities. In recent years, FDA has increasingly shifted to the states its responsibility for conducting inspections,…
-
FDA Announces 2012-2016 Food and Veterinary Medicine Strategic Plan
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently announced the availability of its draft Foods and Veterinary Medicine Strategic Plan 2012 – 2016, which takes into account “all of the activities within the jurisdictions of the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition and the Center for Veterinary Medicine and includes activities supported by the Office…
-
Meat, Poultry, Egg Interests Oppose User Fees for Food Inspections
A coalition of meat, poultry and egg industry interests recently submitted a letter to the congressional Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, also known as the “Super Committee,” urging it to reject a proposed U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) fiscal year 2012 budget that would impose “user fees” on industry for government-mandated food safety inspection…
-
GAO Highlights Security Challenges for Food and Agriculture Sector
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently delivered its evaluation of how well federal agencies have implemented the nation’s food and agricultural defense policy known as Homeland Security Presidential Directive (HSPD)-9. Established to protect the food supply “against terrorist attacks, major disasters, and other emergencies,” HSPD-9 divides emergency response activities among several agencies, including the Departments…
-
FSIS Issues Video Compliance Guide for Federally Inspected Meat, Poultry Plants
The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has announced the availability of final compliance guidelines for video monitoring at federally inspected establishments, such as meat and poultry plants. The guidelines, which have received Office of Management and Budget approval, stem from a 2008 USDA Office of Inspector General (OIG) recommendation that called for FSIS to…
-
Wired Blogger Questions Safety of Food Imported from China
Wired magazine’s “Superbug” blogger Maryn McKenna recently published an article questioning China’s food safety record after reports surfaced that 11 people from one Xinjiang province village died “and anywhere from 120 to 140 were sickened” by vinegar contaminated with ethylene glycol. According to McKenna, “The vinegar had been stored in barrels that previously contained antifreeze,”…
-
Food Policy Issues to Be Focus of October 2011 Conference
The Consumer Federation of America will hold its 34th Annual National Food Policy Conference on October 3-4, 2011, in Washington, D.C. Topics will include imported food safety, federal legislative priorities, food marketing and social media, and the global food system.
-
HHS Inspector General Critical of FDA Recall System for Imported Food
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (IG) has issued a June 21, 2011, report criticizing the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) imported food recall guidance as “not adequate to ensure the safety of the nation’s food supply because it was not enforceable.” According to the audit, which covered…