The head of the Food Standards Agency has said she is increasingly worried about the impact of local authority funding shortages on food safety.
Emily Miles said the coronavirus pandemic has served as a reminder of the financial problems local authorities have had to contend with in recent years. The FSA chief executive spoke on day two of the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH) food safety conference, which runs through today. For highlights of day one click here.
More than 120 people are part of a multi-country Salmonella outbreak linked to Brazil nuts.
Since August 2019, the outbreak, caused by Salmonella Typhimurium and Salmonella Anatum, has affected three European Union countries, the United Kingdom and Canada. The United States was one of more than 30 countries that received Brazil nuts from Bolivia contaminated with Salmonella.
In total, 123 cases of Salmonella Typhimurium have been reported, of which 105 were in the UK, 14 in France, three in Luxembourg and one each in the Netherlands and Canada. One Salmonella Anatum patient was recorded in the UK.
The head of the Food Standards Agency has said she is increasingly worried about the impact of local authority funding shortages on food safety.
Emily Miles said the coronavirus pandemic has served as a reminder of the financial problems local authorities have had to contend with in recent years. The FSA chief executive spoke on day two of the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH) food safety conference, which runs through today. For highlights of day one click here.
Almost 400 people have fallen ill with Salmonella since the start of the year in the United Kingdom after eating frozen chicken products.
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) and Public Health England (PHE) are investigating a rise in patients with two strains of Salmonella Enteritidis linked to frozen raw breaded processed chicken products.
Cases of Salmonella linked to raw breaded chicken products have been identified in previous years, however there has been an increase in 2020.
There have been 327 people sick in England, 32 in Scotland, 26 in Wales and five in Northern Ireland.
More than half of respondents, including people from the U.S., to a survey feel food safety is a top three global issue.
The study from the Mars Global Food Safety Center (GFSC), that surveyed people in the United States, United Kingdom and China, found 77 percent of people think food safety is a top 10 worldwide problem.
KRC Research conducted the survey online with 1,754 adults aged 18 to 65 in mid-September. Respondents include 502 each from the U.S. and UK and 750 in China.
The Food Standards Agency and Public Health England are reminding people to take care when handling and cooking frozen raw breaded chicken products at home, such as nuggets, goujons, dippers, poppers and kievs.
All Northern Ireland district councils, food businesses, and other stakeholders with an interest in food hygiene law.
This consultation concerns the operation of the statutory food hygiene rating scheme in Northern Ireland.
When Regulation (EU) 2017/625 repealed and replaced Regulation (EC) No 882/2004 on 14 December 2019, it impacted the operation of the statutory food hygiene rating scheme in Northern Ireland (NI) insofar as statutory food hygiene ratings could no longer be issued.
A global food safety network has been involved in almost double the number of incidents in the past few years.
INFOSAN was active during 162 food safety events across all regions in 2018 and 2019. This included 84 in 2019 and 78 in 2018. It was involved in 84 international incidents during 2016 and 2017.
The International Food Safety Authorities Network (INFOSAN), launched in 2004, is managed by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.
This report of the European Food Safety Authority Advisory Forum Task Force on Data Collection and Data Modelling presents the outcomes of the discussions of the Task Force related to data collection and reporting processes, data models, IT infrastructure and data analysis. The objective of the Task Force was to deliver strategic recommendations to EFSA, to the European Commission and to Member States on food chain safety data, theirmanagement and use.The report includes summaries of initiatives and recommendations flowing from other discussion groups which are of relevance to the topic and context, e.g. the European Interoperability Framework. The report also contains the resultingvision of a future ideal food safety system, conclusions and recommendations foridentified quick wins, short‐to medium‐term and long‐term actions
EFSA's Panel on Contaminants in the Food Chain (CONTAM) has launched an open consultation on the draft scientific Opinion on the update of the risk assessment of hexabromocyclododecanes (HBCDDs) in food. This document presents an estimation of the human dietary exposure to HBCDDs, and an assessment of the human health risks related to this dietary exposure.
Interested parties are invited to submit written comments by 25 November 2020.
EFSA is holding an open consultation on a draft scientific guidance document for the preparation of applications on smoke flavouring primary products. This document provides guidance to applicants on the data to be included in applications for the authorisation of new smoke flavouring primary products, as well as for the modification or for the renewal of existing authorisations, submitted under Articles 7, 11 and 12 of Regulation (EC) No 2065/2003.
Interested parties are invited to submit written comments by 16/11/2020. Please use the electronic template provided to submit comments and refer to line and page numbers. To submit additional data or files to support your comments, there is an upload function available in the tool (maximum size 1Mb). Otherwise you can also ask EFSA for support by email: FIP.PublicConsul.EUS.003@efsa.europa.eu.
The 19th issue (vol 9 | issue 2) of the International Journal of Food Studies, second issue of the 9th year of publication, is now online.
First of all, we hope to find you safe and in good health!
This issue counts with the last two invited papers from the 5th International ISEKI Food Conference - ISEKI Food 2018 - The Food System Approach - New challenges for Education, Research and Industry, in the area of Education methods, one invited paper from the 2nd edition of the International School on Modeling and Simulation in Food and BioProcesses, together with more six research papers and one critical review paper of scientific literature.
We take the opportunity to announce and invite you to participate at the e-conference organised and supported by the University of Agronomic Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Bucharest (UASVM of Bucharest) and the ISEKI-Food Association in collaboration with the ISEKI-Food Special Interest Group (SIG) "Food Structure and Bionanotechnology". This e-conference will take place from 18 - 19 November 2020 and will be focused on topics "From production to consumption" for a fair, healthy and environmentally-friendly food system.
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are industrial chemicals which are used in several industrial processes and consumer products, due to their special technical properties. This group of substances includes more than 4,700 different compounds.
In the perfluoroalkyl substances sub-group, perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) are the most thoroughly studied substances. Like many PFAS, these two compounds are not readily degradable, and are now detectable in the environment, the food chain, and in humans.
Can edible insects trigger allergies? In September 2020, the BfR launched a new joint research project to protect consumers from potential allergic reactions: Allergen-Pro. The aim:
to establish methods for the in-depth analysis of allergens in food and to describe their impact on those with allergies. Seven partners from Switzerland and Germany are involved in
developing suitable and reproducible detection methods for insect components in food products.
Those with food allergies must avoid allergens in food. Health problems can be triggered by even the smallest traces for those affected. This is why manufacturers of ready-made foods
must list the ingredients on the packaging. A special declaration obligation applies to major allergens, such as peanuts, celery or egg, even if these are only found in small quantities in
the recipe.
However, the declaration of allergens that inadvertently enter a food, in other words which are not part of the regular ingredients, is not regulated. These kinds of inadvertent allergenic entries can happen due to transport and production conditions, for example, and pose a health risk to those with allergies.
Listeria was detected in almost a quarter of frozen vegetable samples in England, according to a study.
Between December 2018 and April 2019, 1,050 frozen fruit and vegetable samples were collected. Listeria monocytogenes or other Listeria species were detected in 167 samples of vegetables. Listeria monocytogenes was present in 10 percent of frozen vegetables.
Officials in Sweden and Denmark are investigating a hepatitis A outbreak with frozen imported berries suspected to be the source of infection.
Since mid-July, nine patients with the same type of hepatitis A virus have been reported from five different regions in Sweden. The latest patient fell ill on Sept. 18.
Six women and three men from Norrbotten, Västra Götaland, Stockholm, Uppsala and Södermanland are infected with the liver virus. Patients range from 2 to 78 years old. Also, a couple of people are ill in Denmark.
Consultation to seek comments from stakeholders on the proposal to make the Animal Feed (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2020.
This year has brought nothing but huge changes for the world, especially for the food industry. Shutdowns, new operational models, and re-openings at this scale are new territory for us all. Even the definition of food safety culture has changed from “what you’re doing when no one is watching” to “what you do when everyone is watching.”
Customers and employees have their eyes open wider than ever before. Employees are watching to make sure you’re not taking their safety for granted, and customers are watching closely to make sure your employees’ actions don’t ring any alarm bells for health and safety.
The UK National Food Crime Unit have launched a new newsletter, intended as a means of informing professionals about what they believe to be current issues affecting the food industry. You can read the first issue: NFCU Industry Newsletter September.pdf, and if you’d like to sign up to their newsletters, you can reach out to NFCU.Outreach@food.gov.uk.
