March 2013

OIG finds that more components of ground beef need to be tested for E. coli, as well as needle tenderized steaks.  OIG also found traceback records were lacking.

The Office of Inspector General (OIG) audited Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) to determine how effectively the agency was testing boxed beef items that downstream processors used

Information available to date indicates that consumption of Farm Rich brand frozen food products is one likely source of infection for the ill persons in this outbreak.

Testing conducted by the New York State Department of Health, Wadsworth Center Laboratory, identified the outbreak strain of STEC O121 in an open package of Farm Rich brand

One of the “Big Six” E. coli strains (O26, O45, O103, O111, O121 and O145) prompts recall.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) was notified of a multistate investigation of E. coli O121 illnesses on March 19, 2013. Food samples were collected from an ill individual in New York as

Lisa Kubota of Hawaii News Now reports that investigators with the Hawaii Department of Health are looking into at least nine people have now become ill from E. coli O157:H7.  The confirmed cases consist of three adults and six children. All of them live on Oahu except for a Canadian visitor who spent time

In January 2013 local, state and federal officials announced an outbreak of Salmonella Typhimurium linked to consumption of ground beef produced by Jouni Meats, Inc. and Gab Halal Foods.  Public health investigators used DNA “fingerprints” of Salmonella bacteria obtained through diagnostic testing with pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) to identify patients considered to be part of

Food Chemical News reports that the preventive controls proposal that FDA sent to the White House Office of Management and Budget in November 2011 would have required food companies to conduct environmental and finished product testing, maintain supplier verification programs, and track consumer complaints. But the OMB struck the requirements and those documents were recently