Food for Thought (Mar. 11 – Mar. 17)

Food and Health

Scientists say they have identified five eating patterns for U.S. adults that are strongly influenced by age, race, region, gender, income and education.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/03/120313190052.htm

When it comes to managing children's obesity, cutting portion sizes and cutting carbohydrates can work equally well -- though carb control is tough for many kids, a new clinical trial finds. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46735629/ns/health-childrens_health/

Physicians who have more healthy habits are more likely than doctors without such habits to recommend five important lifestyle modifications to patients, including eating healthy, limiting sodium, maintaining a healthy weight, limiting alcohol and being more physically active. http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/242923.php

Prof. Marion Nestle, a leading nutrition expert and public health advocate, criticized PepsiCo’s decision to invest about $500M on marketing its’ “megabrands.” She described the brands as unhealthy and said the company’s decision was a “a crass commercial decision.” http://www.beveragedaily.com/Markets/PepsiCo-draws-fire-for-alleged-crass-commercial-choice-of-profit-over-public-health

Food Safety

Information on food recalls and alerts, keeping food safe, food poisoning, and recent news and features can be found at http://www.foodsafety.gov/index.html.

Foodborne illness outbreaks linked to imported food appeared to rise between 2009 and 2010, according to a new analysis released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Wednesday. http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2012/03/cdc-outbreaks-linked-to-imported-foods-increasing-2/

In response to nationwide concern among parents and school service providers about 'pink slime' being purchased by the national school lunch program, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Thursday that next year it will give school districts the ability to choose whether they will serve the ammoniated beef product. http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2012/03/usda-to-offer-school-districts-choice-on-pink-slime/

The continued growth of the certified-organic products sector truly is revolutionizing the modern food system in many positive ways, and changing the way people view food and health. But along with this positive growth has come the not-so-positive growth of a highly-deceptive, unregulated "natural" products sector which churns out food and personal care products that are oftentimes loaded with toxic chemicals, genetically-modified organisms (GMOs), and many other distinctly conventional additives that health-conscious individuals are seeking to avoid.
http://www.naturalnews.com/035238_natural_foods_GMOs_organic.html

Food Assistance

The proposal to devolve social programs to the states may draw more attention as the presidential contest arrives in Mississippi and Alabama, two of the nation’s least-affluent states. In Mississippi, 22 percent of the 3 million residents received food stamps in December 2011, the highest percentage in the nation, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-12/mississippi-whites-not-used-to-help-back-republican-aid-cutters.html

A new program to keep thousands of Delaware kids fed when they are out of school during the summer represents the latest effort to provide proper nutrition to a population that is widely dependent on a network of feeding initiatives.State agencies are teaming up with the U.S. Department of Agriculture this summer to feed 5,000 children who currently receive free or reduced-price meals at school and who may be at risk of going hungry when school is not in session. http://www.delawarefirst.org/24090-delaware-childrens-food-safety-net

In the last three years, demand at the town's food pantry has tripled, Senior Services Director Joyce Becker said, and the facility needs more space. Bethlehem is an affluent suburb, with the median household income around $80,000 and median house value at $272,663, according to city-data.com, but unemployed couples, seniors and single-parent households are increasingly relying on the town's modest pantry. http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Food-pantry-lacks-room-3411022.php

Food for Thought (Mar. 4 – Mar. 10)

Food and Health

Happy Nutrition Month! That's right, the American Dietetic Association has declared March "National Nutrition Month" and to celebrate This Week in Food News is rolling out a special edition that looks at apples, fats, milk, subsidies, and strawberries. http://www2.tricities.com/blogs/eat-smarter-tri-cities/2011/mar/04/week-food-news-happy-nutrition-month-ar-883786/

Vitamin D may be associated with a lower risk of developing stress fractures in preadolescent and adolescent girls, especially among those very active in high-impact activities, according to a report published Online First by Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/03/120305173453.htm

For the first time consumers will get more information to help them decide if cutting down on meat is right for them. As of March 1st, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is requiring that nutrition information be posted on 40 of the most popular cuts of raw meat including chicken breasts, ground beef, pork chops and steak. Nutrition labels will offer a wide variety of information like calories, serving size, cholesterol and saturated fat content. In addition, meat labels will be required to show both the lean content and fat percentage (a cut marked “90% lean”, for example, will now also say “10% fat”). http://www.meatlessmonday.com/usda-to-require-nutrition-labels-on-meat/

Food Safety

Our process of framing and regulating produce food safety is upside down and backwards. Human pathogens constantly flow from urban environments and animal production into farm environments, contaminating water and soil, and finding a home in wildlife. Then we ask farmers to deliver pathogen-free fruits and vegetables. http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2012/03/produce-farming-on-the-brink/

"Pink slime" has been oozing back into headlines in recent weeks after McDonalds, followed by other fast food chains, announced it had stopped using beef trimmings to fill out its hamburgers. A product the industry calls "lean, finely textured meat" has been a fixture in the ground beef served in the free school lunch program and fast food hamburgers for years. But after Chef Jamie Oliver demonstrated how "pink slime" is made on his TV show last year, and media reports suggested it may not be as safe as the government claims, alarm among consumers began surging. http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/03/09/148298678/is-it-safe-to-eat-pink-slime

Although it maintains that the bisphenol A (BPA) in its cans is safe, the Campbell Soup Company says it has already switched to alternatives in some packaging as it ends the use of the controversial chemical. The decision was hailed by the Breast Cancer Fund (BCF) as a victory for consumers. But the group called on Campbell's to disclose its timeline for the phase-out and reveal the alternatives it will use. http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2012/03/campbell-soup-will-phase-out-bpa-use/

Food Assistance

Food stamps are saving many of the nation's poorest children. The food stamp program -- now officially called Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP --reduced the number of extremely poor children by nearly 50 percent in 2011, according to a recently released study by the National Poverty Center. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/09/food-stamps-poor-children_n_1335298.html?ref=business

As rising costs and a tough economy squeeze the family pocketbook, school meal programs have witnessed an increase in the number of children who arrive in the school cafeteria without their lunch money. Currently, there is no federal policy for how schools respond to requests for “unpaid meals,” nor is there policy on managing those expenses when incurred. http://www.schoolnutrition.org/Blog.aspx?id=16875&blogid=564

Students and staff at Prince George's County Public Schools are celebrating National School Breakfast Week March 5 to 9 in partnership with Kellogg's cereal company, to increase nutrition awareness and help a local Feeding America food bank. For each school breakfast purchased by students during the week, Kellogg's will donate a bowl of cereal to a local food bank through its "Eat, Share, Prosper" program. http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2012-03-08/explore/ph-ll-edbriefs-breakfast-20120308_1_local-food-bank-kellogg-middle-schools

Breakfast has increasingly become a focus for school nutritionists, both as a means to provide one more meal to low-income students whose families may not have adequate food in the house and to ensure that all students, regardless of family income, don’t start the day hungry. Gov. John Hickenlooper of Colorado and Denver wide receiver Eric Decker – accompanied by some Denver Broncos cheerleaders and DPS Chief Operating Officer David Suppes delivered breakfast to students rolling breakfast carts, to kick off this week’s National School Breakfast Week and Fuel Up to Play 60, a National Dairy Council program that stresses healthy eating and physical activity for students. http://www.ednewscolorado.org/2012/03/04/34134-breakfast-more-common-in-colorado-classrooms

Food for Thought (Feb. 26 – Mar. 3)

Food and Health

A new report from the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) shows 16% of total daily caloric intake of children and adolescents coming from added sugar in foods and drinks. The recommended amount is no more than 15%, but includes fat, as well as sugar. http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/242328.php

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System survey of adolescents, only 21% of our children eat the recommended 5 or more fruits and vegetables per day. So not very many children are asking their parents to "pass the peas," and parents are resorting to other methods to get their children to eat their vegetables. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/03/120301180910.htm

In recent studies, University of Georgia foods and nutrition researchers uncovered the unequal distribution of food stores in one Southeast community. The first study covered access to stores for people using food stamps, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, while the second study looked at what healthy foods were available at supermarkets, grocery and convenience stores. Both studies found access to healthy food is most problematic in low-income, predominately black neighborhoods. http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/242149.php

On a warm, sunny Thursday morning in Frankfort, school bus drivers and monitors are chatting in their cafeteria-style lounge when Madonna Mikaitis enters the room to make an announcement. "Who's walking today?" Mikaitis booms. "Let's go!" With that, about 15 employees of American School Bus Co. pile into one of their buses and head to Lincoln Mall in nearby Matteson for the group's morning walk through the shopping center's hallways. En route, the drivers pass around a sign-in sheet with the header "Live Well — Live Long!"
http://www.chicagotribune.com/health/ct-x-0229-bus-driver-obesity-20120229,0,706019,full.story

Food Safety

In a move that could help shoppers make more informed choices, the nutrition fact labels seen on most processed foods must now also be on all packages of raw ground beef, turkey and chicken. http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2012/03/new-labels-required-on-ground-meat-poultry-packages/

Food Safety News pulled the lobbyist reports filed in January 2012 for the fourth quarter of 2011. The top 10 are ranked in descending order based on their reported quarterly spending: Tyson Foods Inc. - $464,837.24; McDonald's Corporation - $430,000; Cargill Inc. - $360,000; Smithfield Foods - $265,000; Hormel Foods Corporation - $123,076; Starbucks - $120,000; The Kroger Co. - $90,000; Wegmans Foods - $90,000; Kraft Foods Global Inc. - $50,000. http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2012/03/slicing-into-the-food-industrys-40-million-worth-of-lobbying/

Pasou Foods of Syracuse, IN is recalling about 147 pounds of frozen, fully cooked, ready-to-eat pizza sticks because a meat ingredient may have been produced without federal inspection, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced Friday. http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2012/03/frozen-pizza-sticks-recalled-in-indiana/

Food Assistance

…nearly three-quarters of a century ago almost the only thing you could buy — with or without regulation — was real food. Since then Big Food has moved our diet in the wrong direction, and now we have a surplus of empty calories. The argument for limiting the use of food stamps to actual food is consistent with established policy. They’re already disallowed for tobacco, alcohol,vitamins, pet foods, household supplies and (with some exceptions) food meant to be eaten on premises. Payments have been based on the cost of a “nutritionally adequate diet.” http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/26/regulating-our-sugar-habit/

Families are feeling the pinch more and more these days, and no where is that more evident than at food banks across the nation. According to a new survey by the food research and action center, 20% of Indiana households needed food assistance at some point last year. http://www.14news.com/story/17068689/food-banks-seeing-increase-in-hungry-families

Food for Thought (Feb. 19 – Feb. 25)

Food and Health

A compound in citrus fruits may reduce your stroke risk, according to research reported in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association. Eating higher amounts of a compound in citrus fruits, especially oranges and grapefruit, may lower ischemic stroke risk. Women who ate high amounts of the compound had a 19 percent lower risk of ischemic stroke than women who consumed the least amount. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120223182638.htm

Worldwide, inadequate vitamin D is common, and deficiencies can be found on all continents, in all ethnic groups, and across all ages. Why are these widespread low levels of vitamin D such a great concern? Because research conducted over the past decade suggests that vitamin D plays a much broader disease-fighting role than once thought. http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/vitamin-d/

Food Safety

Depending on who you ask, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Microbiological Data Program (MDP), which randomly tests produce for dangerous pathogens, is either an unnecessary, slow-moving program housed in the wrong agency, or a critical public health initiative that fills a big, alarming gap in domestic produce testing. The debate over MDP, which falls under the Agriculture Marketing Service, intensified last week with the news that the Obama administration's budget eliminates the $5 million program in Fiscal Year 2013. http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2012/02/the-fight-over-the-microbiological-data-program/

Two new cases, both from Michigan, have been confirmed in the multistate outbreak of E. coli O26 linked to raw clover sprouts served at Jimmy John's restaurants in six states, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Friday. That brings the outbreak total to 14. All of those sickened are female. Two have been hospitalized. http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2012/02/outbreak-linked-to-raw-sprouts-grows-to-14-cases/

Food Assistance

Dozens of students at a Texas middle school staged a boycott of the cafeteria lunch menu last week in protest of repetitive offerings, the Victoria Advocate reported. Inspired by a recent history lesson in which they learned the word "boycott," around 30 seventh graders at Austwell-Tivoli Junior High School near Texas' Gulf Coast decided to bring their lunches from home Tuesday through Friday. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/21/students-boycott-school-lunches-texas_n_1291411.html

Low-income county residents who take advantage of CalFresh, or the program formerly known as food stamps, is finally on the rise after years of low participation. Still, a new report by California Food Policy Advocates notes that barely more than half of Californians eligible for food stamps sign up. And some 81,000 Sacramentans who qualify still haven’t registered. In fact, a little more than half of all eligible Californians participate in CalFresh. This means the program, which is federally funded and county administered, fails to reach 3.5 million state residents for nutritional assistance. http://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/more-sacramentans-using-californias-food-stamp/content?oid=5240896

Schools are increasingly dishing up dinner to students — something advocates for the poor praise but conservatives question. The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, signed into law by President Barack Obama in December 2010, provides federal funds for the after-school dinner program in areas where at least half the students qualify for free or reduced price lunches. Before the change, the program was limited to 13 states and the District of Columbia. http://www.abc4.com/content/news/national/story/More-public-schools-dish-up-three-meals-a-day/3kXC6e5-l06RwfxDAHFXQg.cspx

Food for Thought (Feb. 12 - 17)

Food and Health

Diet soda may benefit the waistline, but a new study suggests that people who drink it every day have a heightened risk of heart attack and stroke. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46431225/ns/health-diet_and_nutrition/

According to a study in the February issue of Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals, a Mediterranean-style diet may be healthier for the brain. http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/241760.php

In Illinois, farmers and ranchers will focus on spreading the word about how consumers can stretch their grocery dollars with healthy, nutritious food during Food Checkout Week next week. http://www.whig.com/story/16959937/pike-county-farm-bureau-plans-food-check-out-week-event-monday-in-pittsfield

A new study in the February issue of the Journal of Food Science, published by the Institute of Food Technologists, shows that fish oil can be added to goat cheese to deliver high levels of heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids without compromising taste or shelf-life. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120216133249.htm

A University of South Carolina study shows that Mexican-American youth gain pounds as they move away from the dietary habits of their native country, a move that is putting them at risk for serious health problems. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120213153948.htm

Food Assistance

Schools in Bossier and Caddo parishes, Louisiana have been tweaking menus for years to prepare for the changes. They made more changes this year, such as serving only skim or low-fat milk and introducing new vegetables. Some changes are more popular than others. http://www.shreveporttimes.com/article/20120218/LIVING02/202170343/School-lunches-getting-makeover?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CFRONTPAGE

For thousands of Alaska kids, a simple school breakfast may draw them to school, boost their ability to learn and improve their behavior, advocates say. Now the pressure is growing on the state Legislature to put state dollars into the federal school meal program for the first time. http://www.thenewstribune.com/2012/02/17/2031049/legislators-feel-pressure-to-help.html

It's estimated the SNAP program, what we commonly call "food stamps", brought in more than $16 million to the Montana economy last year and as Dennis Bragg has discovered in his special reports this week, those dollars are especially important in the state's small communities. http://www.kpax.com/news/snap-bringing-dollars-back-into-mt-economy/

Food Safety

Brown rice syrup used in many organic foods as a substitute for the often-chastised high fructose corn sugar is causing problems of its own with high arsenic levels. That means danger for those consuming such products as "organic" infant milk formula, cereal bars or high energy foods that contain the organic brown rice syrup (OBRS) as an ingredient, according to a Dartmouth College research team. http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2012/02/brown-rice-syrup-puts-arsenic-in-those-organics/

FDA released a statement on arsenic in brown rice syrup highlighting their commitment to protecting the nation's public health from contaminants in our food supply and has been monitoring for arsenic content for more than 20 years. Because arsenic is naturally occurring in soil and was used for many years in pesticides, FDA knows there are trace amounts of arsenic in many foods. They expanded surveillance activities in rice to ensure that consumers are protected. A study of findings is scheduled to be completed in Spring 2012. http://www.fda.gov/Food/FoodSafety/FoodContaminantsAdulteration/Metals/ucm292531.htm

An additional Campylobacter infection has brought the total number of illnesses to 77in an outbreak linked to raw milk from Your Family Cow dairy in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2012/02/raw-milk-campylobacter-outbreak-expands/

Food For Thought (Jan. 29 – Feb. 3)

Food and Health

The debate over whether high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is really worse for you than sugar is always popular and heated. Full disclosure: based on the available research, one reporter states will usually land you on the side that says there really is no difference. A sugar is a sugar is a sugar. However a new study suggests for the first time that there is a (slight) difference in the way the body processes HFCS and sugar.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eatingwell/sugar-corn-syrup_b_1250010.html?ref=health-news&ir=Health%20News

On February 1, First lady Michelle Obama said the campaign to bring healthy food to all Americans is happening neighborhood by neighborhood.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/industries/first-lady-to-promote-access-to-healthy-food-with-stop-at-future-calif-market-site/2012/02/01/gIQAV094gQ_story.html

Three student-chefs at a Rochester school won a $2,500 grant for promoting healthy eating in their school. The Northwest College Prep students received their big check morning of February 1. http://www.whec.com/news/stories/S2477897.shtml?cat=565

Food Assistance

Thirty-two million kids — 10 percent of the American population, and the future of the country — are about to start eating better. That’s the bottom line of the new Department of Agriculture (U.S.D.A.) guidelines for government-subsidized school meals, announced last week. The new rules are the first changes to the program in 15years, and come as part of the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act. http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/31/finally-good-news-about-school-lunches/

Two of Colorado's largest school districts have already begun implementing the changes. JeffCo Public Schools and Denver Public Schools say they already abide by 90% of the changes being mandated by the new school lunch guidelines. http://www.thedenverchannel.com/education/30342622/detail.html

New federal guidelines aimed at making school lunches more nutritious were announced this past week. It may seem like a welcome trend, but in the Los Angeles school district, many students are calling healthier inedible. http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57368008/some-call-healthy-l.a-school-lunches-inedible/

The debate about food stamps continues. In an exclusive interview last week with ABC’s Diane Sawyer, Obama responded to Gingrich’s regular campaign trail refrain on food stamps, with the president saying that “the American people are going to make a judgment about, you know, who’s trying to bring the country together and who’s dividing it, who is, you know, tapping into some of our worst instincts.” http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/01/newt-gingrich-defends-food-stamps-vs-paychecks-charge/

Food Safety

The Mexican-style fast food chain referred to only as "Restaurant Chain A" in a report on a 10-state outbreak of Salmonella Enteritidis by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is Taco Bell, Food Safety News has learned. http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2012/02/taco-bell-named-in-salmonella-investigation-report/

W & C International Import Inc. is recalling “Rely” Sardine Anchovies because the product was found to be un-eviscerated. The recalled “Rely” Sardine Anchovies were distributed nationwide in 7.0 oz. plastic packages. The “Rely” Sardine Anchovies are a product of China.
http://www.botulismblog.com/botulism-watch/monthly-installment-of-uneviscerated-fish-recall-w-c-international-recalling-sardines-due-to-possibl/

Pennsylvania health authorities have not yet announced the results of their tests, as the number of people who are sick after drinking milk from a raw milk dairy has risen to 35 in four states. The confirmed cases of Campylobacter infection include 28people in Pennsylvania, four in Maryland, two in West Virginia, and one in New Jersey.
http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2012/02/maryland-confirms-campylobacter-in-dairys-raw-milk/

Food For Thought (Jan. 22 - Jan. 28)

Food and Health

In the food world, the people with power are the ones who affect what and how and where and why we eat. They're the agribusiness moguls who decide what gets grown and how it gets harvested and sold; the representatives of major food processing, distribution concerns, and retail food outlets who create new products and service the demand for edibles old and new. They're also the consumer advocates — who tell us what we should and shouldn't eat, sometimes upending whole industries in the process. http://www.thedailymeal.com/50-most-powerful-food-folk-america-for-2011

Guess what – traffic light labels work. Investigators measured sales before the start of the intervention. About a quarter of items sold were in the red category and 42% were green—these hospital workers were already making healthy choices. The intervention took place in two 3-month phases. The first phase just involved traffic light labels. In the second phase, the investigators moved the items around to make the green-labeled products more visible and accessible. http://www.foodpolitics.com/

This time of year the options in fresh produce are limited, SupermarketGuru wants to remind you of some thrifty ways of filling up on nature’s bounty. Generally winter vegetables and fruits include, root vegetables such as: parsnips, rutabagas, potatoes, beets, citrus fruits like blood oranges, kumquats, and clementines. Winter is also the time for Brussels sprouts and jicama. http://www.supermarketguru.com/index.cfm/go/sg.viewArticle/articleId/2767

A new study of women ages 18 to 44 found that drinking coffee and other caffeinated beverages can alter levels of estrogen.
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/27/caffeine-alters-estrogen-levels-in-younger-women/?ref=health

Food Assistance

Hoping to combat the growing problem of childhood obesity, the Obama administration on Wednesday announced its long-awaited changes to government-subsidized school meals, a final round of rules that adds more fruits and green vegetables to breakfasts and lunches and reduces the amount of salt and fat.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/26/us/politics/new-school-lunch-rules-aimed-at-reducing-obesity.html?_r=1&ref=health

A Georgia DA says there may be a culture in Dougherty County that it's OK to lie on application forms and receive free school lunch for your students. But he says those free lunches days are over. He says his office and school police will audit the lunch program now, and he will prosecute violators.
http://www.walb.com/story/16589030/d-a-to-vet-free-school-lunch-applications

A Kansas House committee will question a state official next week about a new policy that reduced or ended food stamp benefits to hundreds of U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants.
http://www.dodgeglobe.com/newsnow/x675926940/House-panel-to-examine-food-stamps-policy

Food Safety

The scathing review by the Department of Health and Human Services found that the safety of the nation's food supplies was compromised because FDA did not always follow its own guidelines to properly handle recalls.
http://money.cnn.com/2011/06/23/news/economy/food_safety_recalls_fda/index.htm

Thursday, a Colorado House committee gave its unanimous support to a cottage food bill. If enacted, the bill would allow the sale of "nonpotentially hazardous" food from home kitchens.
http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2012/01/cottage-food-bill-gets-public-hearing-in-colorado/

Dietary levels of acrylamide, the chemical compound and known carcinogen naturally produced from cooking food, cannot be shown to pose any health risk to humans.
http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2012/01/panel-acrylamide-in-food-unlikely-to-pose-health-risk/

Park City Group President Randy Fields addressed food safety regulations in America at a Food and Drug Law Institute conference in Washington, D.C., Thursday, January 26, 2012. Fields was invited to speak to FDA officials, attorneys and industry experts for a registry the Park City Group developed that would track food from farm to fork. http://www.parkrecord.com/rss/ci_19837579?source=rss

Chlorine is a commonly used tool of the fresh-cut produce industry to prevent cross-contamination in the wash flume. But a high organic load, as is common in fresh-cut produce, reduces the efficacy of chlorine by using up free chlorine. A new chlorine stabilizer called SmartWash from New Leaf Food Safety Solutions, Salinas, Calif., could improve food safety during the wash and transport through the cutting room.
http://freshcut.com/index.php/food-safety/entry/chlorine-stabilizer-shows-promise-in-wash-environment

This year promises to be a noteworthy year in food safety. The regulatory outlook for 2012 is dominated by the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), and July will be a particularly important month for food safety, as many important provisions of FSMA either become effective or require regulations to be implemented at that time.
http://www.foodprocessing.com/articles/2012/fda-safety-outlook-2012.html