• May 23, 2013
  "Sesame Paste Sickens Two Minnesota Infants with Salmonella"
  Two Minnesota infants have fallen ill with salmonella poisoning after eating a brand of tahini sesame paste that is the subject of a multistate recall, state officials said Friday.

• May 23, 2013
  "Labs Fail to Detect Cases of Bacterial Food Contamination"
  Foodborne illnesses are a continuing problem in the U.S., but labs that are supposed to detect the presence of pathogens aren’t up to snuff, according to a new report.

• May 21, 2013
  "Homemade Queso Fresco Sickens 25 Minnesotans With Salmonella"
  At least 25 Minnesotans have been sickened with salmonella linked to eating queso fresco that health department investigators believe was sold on a Minneapolis street corner.

• May 21, 2013
  "Why Americans Should Worry About China’s Food Safety Problems"
  This week’s revelation that nearly half the rice sold in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou was found to be tainted with cadmium is just the latest in a long string of eye-catching stories that illustrate the dangers of eating in China. But lost in the exhaustive media coverage are serious questions about what happens — or doesn’t happen — when Chinese food products make their way into the U.S.

• May 13, 2013
  New Data Reflects Significant Increase in Foodborne Illness Outbreaks Linked to Fresh Produce
  The third annual report on the Reportable Food Registry compiles information that domestic and foreign food manufacturers must submit to FDA about potentially dangerous foods that have entered commerce in the United States.

• May 07, 2013
  "Budget Cuts Won't Reduce Food Safety Inspections"
  The Food and Drug Administration will not reduce food inspections because of budget cuts, despite warning earlier that it could be forced to eliminate thousands of inspections by Sept. 30.

• April 26, 2013
  ''FDA Detains Imports of Mexican Cucumbers After Linking Them to Illnesses in 18 States''
  The Food and Drug Administration is detaining imports of cucumbers from a Mexican company after they were linked to salmonella illnesses in 18 states.

• April 19, 2013
  "CDC Says Food Safety Efforts Falling Flat in Latest Study"
  The CDC says efforts to cut back illnesses from foodborne pathogens like salmonella, E. coli, listeria and others have fallen flat in recent years, with little progress to report in the disease battle.

• April 18, 2013
  Letter to the Editor: "FDA's New Goal is Preventing Foodborne Illness"
  Brady Dennis’s April 9 article "FDA food rules yield harvest of opposition" reported why some tree fruit farmers want to be exempted from new rules on produce safety, but it did not fully explain why the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) proposes to include them as part of a science-based, preventive approach to reducing the risk of food-borne illness in produce.

• March 28, 2013
  "Citizens Push For FDA To Prevent Food Poisoning Outbreaks"
  "Hundreds of people have testified over the past two days at an FDA field hearing on food safety in Portland."

• March 28, 2013
  "FDA Gathers Guidance On New Food Safety Law"
  "Portlander Joe Day tearfully recalled the year his family spent Thanksgiving in a hospital cafeteria, as his sister, suffering from e coli, fought for her life several floors above."

• March 27, 2013
  "FDA Meeting on Food Safety in Portland Draws Consumers, Farmers, Regulators"
  "Several hundred farmers, regulators and consumers from Alaska to North Dakota to California gathered in Portland on Wednesday to listen to federal plans to overhaul the food safety system."

• March 14, 2013
  ''Estimate: 1 in 6 Americans Will Get Food Poisoning This Year''
  It is estimated that one in six Americans will get sick from food poisoning this year. That's 48 million people. And the grim reality: some will suffer the rest of their life and others will die. The Food and Drug Administration wants to stop foodborne illness at the source with proposed changes to the way food is grown and processed . In Chicago Monday and Tuesday, the public is invited to weigh in.

• March 11, 2013
  Opinion: "Op-ed: FDA Must Ensure Safety of Imported Food"
  "Several months ago, my life was changed forever when I fell severely ill after eating imported ricotta cheese contaminated by the dangerous bacteria Listeria. Protections in a new U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) law could help prevent infections, like mine, from harming other Americans. But they need to be fully implemented to help anyone."

• January 16, 2013
  "FDA: Plain Sense is the Key for New Food Safety Guidelines"
  "The new food safety guidelines proposed for the people who supply the nation's food, including farmers and manufacturers, are a good preventative step toward a healthy America. The new guidelines are the outgrowth of the Food Safety Modernization Act passed in early 2011, and are aimed at preventing foodborne illness in the United States.

• January 16, 2013
  "Improving Food Safety Essential"
  "The announcement earlier this month of proposed federal food safety regulations certainly took long enough — the authorizing legislation, the Food Safety Modernization Act, was passed two years ago with bipartisan support. Between then and now, the nation has seen a number of incidents (the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has identified 15 multistate outbreaks) in which thousands of people took ill, even died, because of illness carried in contaminated food."

• January 16, 2013
  "Time to Move on New Food Rules"
  "America hasn't made major changes to its food-safety laws since the 1930s, so it probably should come as no surprise that - once a decision was finally made to update them - it took two more years to generate new regulations."

• January 16, 2013
  EDITORIAL: An Unconscionable Delay
  "After two frustrating years of delay, the U.S. Food and Drug administration should soon have the power to prevent food-borne outbreaks rather than merely reacting to them."

• January 15, 2013
  "Putting a Price Tag on Safe Food"
  In addition to the 3,000 deaths it causes each year, contaminated food is very expensive. The cost of food poisoning in this country comes to $14 billion a year, according to a July 2012 study published in the Journal of Food Protection, including the medical expenses of the 128,000 who are hospitalized annually. That figure does not include the millions of dollars that each food recall costs the company involved, the legal expenses from victims' lawsuits or losses incurred by other companies when consumers hear, for example, about contaminated cantaloupes and then avoid all cantaloupes, including those that are perfectly safe.

• January 10, 2013
  Editorial: "Late Better Than Never for New Food-Safety Rules"
  "The Food and Drug Administration has proposed the most sweeping changes in food-safety rules in decades. The changes being made under the Food Safety Modernization Act, which became law in 2011, are long overdue and should be implemented as soon as possible."

• January 08, 2013
  "Safer Food Is on Its Way"
  "On Friday, the FSMA moved a step closer to reality with the FDA’s announcement of proposed rules in two major areas: produce safety and food processing. The new rules will, if adopted, set standards for equipment, tools, buildings, water, soil and other sources of possible contamination."

• December 12, 2012
  Release Food Safety Rules -- 35,000 signatures, One Message, Delivered to White House
  On Tuesday, December 11, The Pew Charitable Trusts delivered a petition signed by nearly 35,000 Americans to the White House, urging President Obama to release the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) rules.

• November 15, 2012
  Tainted Peanut Products Shipped Despite Knowledge of Salmonella Contamination
  A New Mexico company, responsible to date for at least 41 illnesses and 10 hospitalizations, knowingly shipped peanut products contaminated with Salmonella, according to a series of inspection reports from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

• August 20, 2012
  Most Voters in Iowa's New Third District Believe U.S. Government Should Prioritize Food Safety
  According to a new poll, most likely voters in Iowa’s new third district believe that the U.S. government should continue to increase funding for the Food and Drug Administration to carry out its new food safety responsibilities.

• July 17, 2012
  Urge Obama Administration to Act on Food Safety
  President Obama signed sweeping food safety legislation into law more than a year ago, but his administration has yet to release draft rules for the key provisions of the act.

View Full News Archive