By Ching-Fu Lin About a month ago, Jensen Farms pleaded guilty to federal criminal charges for introducing adulterated food into the nation’s food supply via interstate commerce. In 2011, cantaloupes produced by Jensen Farms resulted in a listeria outbreak that spread across 28 states, killed 33 people, and sickened hundreds. The now bankrupt and out of…
By Nicholson Price In the debate over whether genetically modified organisms should be allowed in the food supply or labeled when they’re used, a central question is whether GMOs are any more dangerous to people eating them than other foods. This is far from the only concern raised by GMOs—that list includes things like the…
By Jeffrey Skopek Since 1960, the weight of an average live domesticated turkey has nearly doubled from around 15 to 30 pounds. And current estimates are that 30 million pounds of antibiotics are used in livestock production per year (which represents 80 percent of the total volume of antibiotics sold in the United States for…
By Kuei-Jung Ni In Washington state, a proposal (Initiative 522) to require labeling of genetically modified (GM) or engineered (GE) foods was defeated recently by votes of 45.17% in favor and 54.83% against. The state law would have implemented mandatory labeling requirements on food composed of 0.9% or more of GM ingredients, measured by weight.…
By Ching-Fu Lin Earlier this year, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published for public comment the proposed rule to implement §307 of the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). The proposed rule is to establish a program for accreditation of third-party auditors to provide the FDA with a more efficient tool to regulate food products. …
By Efthimios Parasidis In the United States, over 250 million turkeys are slaughtered each year, with over 45 million just for Thanksgiving. The overwhelming majority of these birds (over 99%) are a genetically engineered and industrially-farmed breed known as Broad Breasted White. As the name suggests, this breed of turkey has an unnatural abundance of…
By Ching-Fu Lin At the World Trade Organization (WTO) committee dealing with food safety and other issues under the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS Agreement) held approximately three weeks ago, China raised several trade concerns about the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). Other WTO members, such as Brazil, Belize, and Korea,…
By Kuei-Jung Ni It has been over a week since the federal government shutdown started on October 1 and concerns over food safety due to the lack of essential food inspections have increased. The impasse on the budget constitutes a big challenge facing federal agencies responsible for monitoring food safety and protecting the public from…
By Ching-Fu Lin [See Part I here.] In response to the melamine-tainted milk scandal in 2008, China replaced its outdated Food Hygiene Act with the Food Safety Law, which came into effect in 2009. The 2009 Food Safety Law includes provisions on risk assessment methods, establishment of a food safety committee, mandatory product recall requirements,…
By Ching-Fu Lin Why should we be concerned about China’s food safety problem? A recent opinion by Adam Minter on Bloomberg offers yet another tough criticism on China’s food system: “For more than a decade, China has earned a reputation as one of the world’s worst food-safety offenders.” Melamine-tainted milk, rat meat sold as lamb, recycled “gutter oil” for…
