The following news is from the Foodmanufacturing.com on October 1, 2104.
"Wednesday, Oct. 1 marks the beginning of the second U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) registration renewal period."
"All domestic and foreign food facilities that manufacture, process, pack or hold food for human or animal consumption in the United States must renew their FDA registrations by December 31, 2014."
"The registration renewal requirement was established by the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) in 2011 and requires that food facilities renew their FDA registrations between October 1 and December 31 of every even-numbered year. FDA considers registrations that are not renewed by the deadline to be expired, and distributing food in the U.S. without a valid registration is a prohibited act that can lead to prosecution in Federal court."
More information can be found at www.fda.gov/Food/GuidanceRegulation/FoodFacilityRegistration/default.htm
The following news is from the jta on September 29, 2104.
On Sunday Ben Weyts, Belgium’s minister for animal welfare, proposed a bill forbidding the slaughter of animals in temporary slaughterhouses as of next year throughout most of the federal monarchy. Weyts’ ban was seen as designed to stop the killing of thousands of sheep in provisionary slaughterhouses that Muslims operate annually for other Muslims ahead of the Eid al Fitr holiday.
Some members of Belgium’s Jewish community said it would not affect Jewish slaughter, or shechitah, which is performed at licensed and permanent abattoirs.
"Belgium’s far-right Vlaams Belang party said it will submit a bill proposing a blanket ban on ritual slaughter.
In addition to seeking to curb immigration into Belgium, Vlaams Belang is also a supporter of independence for the Flemish Region, one of the three autonomous parts that comprise Belgium.
The party won 3.7 percent of the vote in the federal elections earlier this year and 5.9 percent of the vote in the elections for the Flemish parliament. But in 2007, Vlaams Belang emerged as the country’s third largest party with nearly 12 percent of the vote in federal elections.
Virtually all other Belgian political parties consider Vlaams Belang a pariah movement and will not enter in power-sharing agreements with it, making it impossible for the party to enter the government.
Political analysts say the party has lost many votes to the center-right movement of Weyts, the New Flemish Alliance.
The following news is from the GlobalMeats.com on September 29, 2104.
The Lithuanian Parliament has overwhelmingly passed a bill legalizing religious slaughter without stunning for kosher and halal meat. They are hoping to stimulate export of meat to Israel and the Middle East and develop new export markets to compensate for the Russian ban on the import of Lithuanian meat to Russia.
The following health alert is from the JerusalemPost on September 21, 2104.
The Israeli Health Ministry closed Sushi Garden, 21 Rehov Yirmiyahu, Jerusalem. "Inspectors found that it was operating without a license and had very bad hygienic conditions. An epidemiological investigation by the ministry uncovered the case of a pregnant woman who miscarried after suffering from listeriosis. The ministry said there is a possibility that the source of the bacterial infection was food made in the Sushi Garden restaurant."
The following news is from the Barfblog.com and Sciencedirect posted on September 22, 2104.
A study was done on the safety of donkey milk in Italy. A number of small farms sell the milk is directly sold at the farm to people whose children have cow milk alergies. They found one contaminated sample. The mean milk yield was around 1 L/day/donkey.
The following news is from the FDA on September 19, 2104.
The FDA has released updated proposals to FSMA which is designed to help prevent food-borne illness. "Since FSMA was signed into law in January 2011, the FDA has proposed seven rules to implement FSMA. The four updated proposed rules include: produce-safety; preventive controls for human food; preventive controls for animal food; and the foreign supplier verification program." The changes are the following:
- The FDA has revised water testing provisions.
- The rule would not apply to farms with $25,000 in produce sales.
- Rule revised for spent grains
- Revisions to the foreign-supplier verification proposed rule give importers more flexibility to determine appropriate supplier verification measures based on risk and previous experience with their suppliers.
The following news is from the CPSC on September 3, 2104.
iDevices is recalling cooking thermometer probes because the plastic insulator located inside the stainless steel probe is not heat resistant and can melt and fall into food, posing an ingestion hazard.
This recall involves all Pro Ambient Temperature Probes and Pro Meat Probes manufactured from May 2014 through June 2014. The probes were sold separately as an accessory for the iGrill, iGrill2, iGrillmini grilling thermometers and the Kitchen Thermometer and Kitchen Thermometer mini cooking thermometers. The meat probe was also sold as a component of the iGrill2 set. The probes consist of a curved stainless steel rod attached to a mini connector by a steel braided cable. Pro Ambient Temperature probes are about 6 inches long with a metal grate clip on the end. Pro Meat Probes are about 6 3/4 inches long. iGrill Pro Meat Probes and iGrill Pro Ambient Probes came with either a red or yellow rubber sleeve and an oval black plastic cord holder. Kitchen Thermometer Pro Meat Probes and Kitchen Thermometer Pro Ambient Probes came with a green rubber sleeve and a round white plastic cord holder. The iDevices logo is stamped into the top of the cord holder. Recalled probes have only two indentations, or crimps, in the base of the probe tube where attached to the braided cable. iGrill Pro Meat Probes and iGrill Pro Ambient Probes came in red packaging. Kitchen Thermometer Pro Meat Probes and Kitchen Thermometer Pro Ambient Probes came in green packaging. The iDevices name and logo and either “iGrill Pro Meat Probe,” “iGrill Pro Ambient Temperature Probe,” “Kitchen Thermometer Pro Meat Probe” or "Kitchen Thermometer Pro Ambient Probe” are printed on the front of the packaging. UPC number 852931005148, 852931005193, 852931005162 or 852931005216 is printed on the bottom of the packaging.
Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled temperature probes and contact iDevices for a free replacement. Consumers can contact Devices LLC toll-free at (888) 313-7019 from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. ET Monday through Friday, or visit the firm’s website at www.iDevicesinc.com and click on Pro Probe Recall on the bottom of the page for more information.
The products were sold at Ace Barnes Hardware, Alabama Gaslight and Grill, AT Guys, Bass Pro Shops, BBQ Outfitters, Brookstone, Cabela’s, Calvert Retail, Chef JJs Backyard, Coastal Cupboard, Combined Pool & Spa, Goodwood Hardware & Outdoors, Gourmet Chef, Great News Cookware & Cooking School, Hartville Hardware, Helping U BBQ, Hopps Sound and Electric, Kansas City BBQ, Kitchen Window, Orchard Supply Hardware, Palmetto Propane, Shoppers Choice and online at Amazon.com, Firecraft.com, Gilt.com, HWBBQSupply.com, iDevicesinc.com, iGet.it, Outdoorcooking.com, SharperImage.com, SomeiCoolThings.com, SpaPartsDepot.com and TouchofModern.com from May 2014 to June 2014. The probes sold separately for about $25. The iGrill2 set sold for about $100.
The following news is from the CPSC on August 19, 2104.
Brita is recalling hard-sided water filter bottle for kids have been recalled because the lid can break into pieces with sharp points, posing a laceration hazard.
The four recalled children’s water bottles have popular cartoon characters on a hard-sided plastic bottle. Characters and bottle colors include Dora the Explorer®, violet; Hello Kitty®, pink; SpongeBob Square Pants®, blue; and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles®, green. The bottles stand 6 inches tall, hold 15 ounces of liquid, have white lids that screw off and have fold-up straws and filters that sit inside the straw below the lid. Each bottle bears a Brita logo and features the image of a popular children’s cartoon character. The removable plastic wrap on the bottle at time of purchase has the model number BB07 and the following UPC codes: 60258-35883 on the Dora the Explorer, 60258-35914 on the Hello Kitty, 60258-35880 on the SpongeBob Square Pants and 60258-35882 on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled water bottles and contact Brita to receive a postage-paid shipping package to return the bottles for a full refund. These products were sold at Alaska Housewares, Associated Food Stores, Bartell Drug, C&S Wholesale Grocers, Quidsi, Royal Ahold, Shopko, Target, US Navy Exchange, Walmart Stores, and online at Amazon.com, Drugstore.com and Target.com. Hello Kitty bottles were sold from February 2014 through July 2014. Dora the Explorer, SpongeBob Square Pants and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles bottles were sold from June 2013 through July 2014. The bottles sold for about $13 to $19.
Consumers can call Brita at (800) 926-2065 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET Monday through Friday or go to www.brita.com and click “Safety Recall” for more information.
The following information is from the NPR on August 20, 2104.
The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization, FAO, is now growing quinoa in Tajikistan and Kyrgystan. They are hoping that quinoa can become a nutritious food for local populations in arid areas or areas with salty soil. Quinoa will grow in dry conditions and salty soil. The people who are running this experiment do not know if the people in those areas will eat it.
The following information is from the Federal Register on August 25, 2104.
The North Dakota winter wheat crop has been found to be contaminated with high levels of vomitoxin, which is a mycotoxin that due to wet weather in late June and early July when winter wheat was flowering. This is about 3% of the US crop. This wheat is being stored until they can determine what to do with it.