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Following three consecutive successful years in Beijing, the China International Food Safety & Quality (CIFSQ) 2010 Conference + Expo is being held in Shanghai, allowing a wider participation of professionals in a new region. As always, CIFSQ 2010 Conference continues to focus on the key food safety issues of interest to both the domestic and international community. The event brings together a wide spectrum of international experts from government, industry and science. Participants are able to share knowledge, discuss and explore the best solutions for strengthening food protection.

Hosted & Organized by the General Administration for Quality Supervision Inspection & Quarantine, P.R.C.

www.chinafoodsafety.com 

"Current Concepts in Foodborne Pathogens and Rapid and Automated Methods in Food Microbiology."

The Technical program consists of lecture/discussions on food-borne pathogens, toxins, safety, quality, and shelf-life issues by speakers from academia, industry, and regulatory agencies. Presentations will also be given by representatives of carious companies involved in developing and marketing rapid and automated methods for microbiological analysis of food, water, and the environment.

For More Information Contact: University of Wisconsin-River Falls Animal and Food Science Department 715-425-3704.

Website: http://www.uwrf.edu/afs-all/institutes/foodmicro/, click on the link to our Institutes, Workshops, and Conferences, then the link to the Food Microbiology Symposium.

Email: foodmicro@uwrf.edu c/o Laura Walsh.

Michigan's Scenic View Dairy, with farms at Fennville, Freeport, and Gowen, should be shut down for selling cows for human consumption with antibiotic levels that exceed tolerable limits.   So argues Adam B. Townshend, assistant U.S. Attorney, in a 25-page complaint filed Aug. 31 in U.S. District Court for Western Michigan against Scenic View Dairy LLC, its president, and three of its managers.   Abuse of antibiotics in animals is believed by many experts to lessen the effectiveness of antibiotics used to treat humans, including those infected by foodborne diseases.   A court date has not yet been set for the request by the government for a permanent injunction against Hamilton-based Scenic View, but the case has been assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Gordon J. Quist.   In the complaint, Townshend alleges that Scenic View Dairy, its president, Michael D. Geerlings, and managers, Mark A. Lucas, Michael J. Van Dam, and Jeremy A. Portell sold for slaughter dairy cows that were treated with drugs contrary to the drugs' FDA-approved labeling and without a veterinary prescription authorizing such use.   The assistant U.S. attorney's complaint says the dairymen ignored numerous warnings, dating as far back as 2002.   FDA sent a warning letter to Scenic View Dairy on May 15, 2003 stemming from inspections that occurred from Nov. 2 to Dec. 5, 2002.   At that time, FDA found neomycin, an aminoglycoside antibiotic, in the kidney and liver tissues of animals sold by the dairy at levels far higher than tolerance levels.   The complaint alleges that these violations have continued through 2010 at Scenic View Dairy's three farms.   Between 2001 and 2010, the FDA notified the defendants of its inspectional findings on at least eight occasions, and USDA sent Scenic View at least 11 letters regarding illegal tissue residues. The complaint alleges that the defendants continue to violate the law despite these warnings.
The complaint is based, in part, upon illegal neomycin, penicillin, and sulfadimethoxine drug residues that the USDA found in the edible tissue of dairy cows that the defendants had offered for sale for human consumption.   Neomycin, penicillin, and sulfadimethoxine are all antibiotics. The sale of animals for human food that contain illegal levels of drugs can lead to the development of bacteria that resist antibiotics and can cause reactions in people with drug allergies. FDA regulations for animal drugs include a specified time to withdraw an animal from treatment prior to slaughter so that a drug is depleted from edible tissue to levels safe for humans.
Scenic View Dairy buys cows primarily from New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and Vermont and sells to slaughterhouses in other states, including Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.   No attorneys have yet been named for the dairy or its personnel.  The U.S. District Court Clerk has said all future filings in the case must be by electronic means.
Current high cattle prices are causing many dairy cows to be sold for slaughter.

Kevin Keener, associate professor of Purdue University in Indiana, said the rapid cooling of eggs after laying and processing would "significantly reduce the ability of Salmonella to grow inside the egg and potentially keep consumers from becoming sick".

A newly developed rapid cooling system uses carbon dioxide to create a thin layer of ice on the inside of the shell that will cut the risk of Salmonella illnesses as well as extend an egg's shelf life.

During the recent recall of at least a half billion eggs, Keener noted that "natural contamination" from shell eggs is somewhat rare and more likely to have arisen because of sanitation issues in the processing plant.

"There is a big discussion right now about how food safety in the US is regulated and cooling eggs is part of that debate," he told Food Production Daily.

According to Keener, under current industry practices, it takes up to six days to cool eggs to 45 degrees F, the temperature at which Salmonella can no longer grow.

"The eggs in the middle of a pallet may take up to six days to cool, and if the one in 20,000 that has Salmonella is in the middle, the bacteria will grow," Keener said. "In reality, some eggs don't cool to 45 degrees until they're in the refrigerator in your home."

The rapid cooling system Keener and his colleagues have been working on at Purdue takes only 90 seconds to cool eggs.

"Studies from the Food and Drug Administration show that if eggs were cooled and stored at 45 degrees or less within 12 hours of laying, there would be an estimated 78 percent fewer Salmonella illnesses from eggs in the United States each year," he added.

Keener hopes the practice will be adopted by the industry and is looking for a commercial partner to help with this.  In addition to costing only about 2 to 5 cents per dozen, the treatment will not slow down production.

Also, "the technology extends shelf life from the basic 6-8 weeks to 12-15 weeks depending on how the eggs are stored," said Keener. "This extension would make the process commercially viable as the shelf life would be such that producers would have the potential to export."

U.S. District Judge Norman K. Moon Wednesday removed the final obstacle blocking settlements for victims of the infamous Peanut Corporation of America Salmonella outbreak that resulted in nine deaths and 714 confirmed infections in 46 states in late 2008 and early 2009.   Judge Moon took out one final strange twist between 122 claimants and the $12 million from the personal injury insurance PCA was carrying at the time it began shipping contaminated peanut butter and paste from its Blakely, GA plant.   A claims administrator appointed by the bankruptcy court trustee, defense attorney Alan Maxwell, recommended how to divide up the insurance funds among the victims.   Maxwell, well known for his experience in foodborne illnesses litigation, did not satisfy one person making a claim--Kenneth Hinton.  He sought $5 million, but there were a few problems with Hinton's story including:   -He claimed to have suffered from Salmonella Typhi when it was Salmonella Typhimurium that was associated with the PCA outbreak.   -His symptoms occurred more than 72 hours after he said he consumed a peanut butter product, which would be outside the window for salmonellosis to occur.   -No one could "verify the existence" of Hinton's Maryland doctor, either by address or medical license number.
Maxwell recommended nothing be paid to Hinton and the court agreed, and for extra emphasis issued a pre-filing injunction against the would-be Salmonella victim.  As it turns out, he was not only filing claims in bankruptcy court, but had also filed 43 lawsuits in federal courts.   Investigating Hinton's claims cost the bankruptcy trustee an additional $24,449.09.
The action Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia comes 18 months after PCA filed for bankruptcy in the aftermath of the deadly outbreak that spread quickly among consumers of popular peanut butter products.   "We previously received a substantial settlement contribution from Kellogg, which we applaud for standing up, taking responsibility, and dealing fairly with its injured customers," said Seattle attorney Bruce Clark.  "Although some of our clients remain dismayed that Stuart Parnell, head of PCA, and author of this entirely avoidable foodborne disaster, has avoided criminal sanctions."   Kellogg's purchased peanut butter from PCA's Georgia plant.  It and facilities in Texas and Virginia were all shut down along with the company.  About 4,000 products containing PCA peanut butter or paste were eventually recalled by several hundred companies.   Investigators for the U.S. House Commerce & Energy Committee produced evidence that seemed to show Parnell ordered product he knew was contaminated with Salmonella shipped anyway.     FDA's Office of Criminal Investigations was known to be investigating in 2009, but no criminal charges have been brought against anyone involved with the PCA Salmonella outbreak.

The California Senate defeated a bill Tuesday that would have banned the use of bisphenol-A, or BPA, in baby bottles, sippy cups, and infant formula packaging intended for use by children 3 and younger.

State Democratic Senator Fran Pavley, sponsor of SB797, believes scientific studies prove the chemical can harm the development of young children. Her legislation would have banned the chemical from baby bottles and sippy cups by the beginning of 2012, and in infant formula packaging by July 2012.

Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Vermont, Wisconsin, and Washington have enacted laws limiting BPA in products used by small children. Over a dozen states and local governments are considering similar restrictions.

The decision comes just as an international group of researchers, led by the Peninsula Medical School and the University of Exeter, in the United Kingdom, reported a correlation between higher BPA exposure and a small increase in levels of testosterone in the blood.
 
"The results are important because they provide a first report in a large-scale human population of associations between elevated exposure to BPA and alterations in circulating hormone levels," the authors wrote. "They also illustrate that the extent of exposure to BPA is similar in this European mixed urban and rural population to exposures seen in the general adult population of the USA."

The study "confirms that 'routine' exposures in the population are not negligible," said David Melzer, professor of Epidemiology and Public Health at the Peninsula Medical School, according to Food Quality News.

"Researchers found that the average BPA daily exposure level in this European study population--at over 5 micrograms per day--was slightly higher than recent comparable estimates for the US population," reported FQN. "The study found that higher BPA exposure was statistically associated with endocrine changes in men, specifically small increases in levels of testosterone in the blood."

"This finding is consistent with the evidence from laboratory experiments," said Melzer. "However, this is just the first step in proving that at 'ordinary' exposure levels, BPA might be active in the human body. This new evidence does justify proper human safety studies to clarify the effects of BPA in people."

The study was published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.

Caught since Aug. 13 between a federal judge and some inept inaction by the Agriculture Department, sugar beet growers with about one million acres in a dozen states have been wondering what's going to be the next thing to happen to them.   Against predictions that sugar prices will be going up next year, raising all sorts of food prices, USDA's Animal and Plant Inspection Service (APHIS) Wednesday announced steps it will be taking to allow growers to continue to plant Roundup Ready sugar beets.   It was the first response by APHIS since U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White of San Francisco ordered the agency to again regulate Monsanto's Roundup Ready sugar beets while it completes an Environmental Impact Statement on the genetically modified plant.   Genetically engineered sugar beet root and seed crops planted on or before Aug. 13 were exempted from White's order.   The judge blamed APHIS for failing to act earlier, saying the USDA "has already had more than sufficient time to take interim measures, but failed to act expediently."   Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack Wednesday said APHIS "must chart a course for compliance with its statutory authorities and environmental statutes, such as NEPA, while USDA works to create the environment where all types of producers can and do produce all types of crops."
During the five year period when Roundup Ready sugar beets were not regulated by USDA, they took over about 95 percent of the cropland dedicated to sugar beets in the U.S. Monsanto's GM product was quickly adopted because it is resistant to the company's agricultural herbicide called Roundup.   This means growers do not have to use expensive, and some say, less environmentally friendly herbicides more frequently.  They just apply Roundup to the entire field and forget it.   Since White's order, sugar beet growers have said here is no "going back' because of shortages of non-GM seed and equipment changes.   "The steps we have outlined today not only respond to the concerns of producers while complying with the court's ruling, but also further USDA's continuing efforts to enable coexistence among conventional, organic, and biotechnology production systems," Vilsack said.   USDA said White's ruling does not preclude APHIS from authorizing future planting of Roundup Ready sugar beets.   APHIS announced it was taking the following steps:   -Taking applications and issuing permits for production of seedlings under conditions that will not allow flowering of the stecklings.   -Evaluating a request for partial deregulation of Roundup Ready sugar beets.   -Completing the EIS as ordered by White, which will take two years.   Higher sugar beet yields in the United States this year have increased domestic sugar production by about 100,000 tons.

Federal officials are widening their investigation of two Iowa farms at the center of a large-scale egg recall and multistate Salmonella outbreak. The criminal division of the Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Justice have become involved in the effort, according to FDA Commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg.
 
"There is a formal investigation going on that extends beyond the FDA inspections that are focused on farm practice," Hamburg told reporters Wednesday. "It is the case that an investigation is under way. We are pursuing it with our partners in law enforcement."

Both Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farms confirmed they were visited by a second round of federal investigators this week. The results from the first round of FDA inspection were made public Monday.

The reports illustrate widespread filth and food safety violations at both farms, but investigators have not determined how bacteria first entered the facilities.

The Des Moines Register also reported yesterday that FDA inspectors are investigating Central Bi-Products, a Minnesota-based rendering operation that supplies a feed ingredient, which tested positive for Salmonella, to Wright County Egg's feed operation. Though the bone meal produced by Central Bi-Products tested positive for a strain of Salmonella that matched the outbreak, FDA officials told reporters last week the feed could have become contaminated on-farm.

The ingredient was also handled by Superior Feed Ingredients in Waconia, Minnesota, before ultimately being supplied to Wright County.

Bone meal for feed is processed under high temperatures, a practice that should kill bacteria like Salmonella.

"We believe that our product was free of all known pathogens after the cooking process and when it left our plants," Don Davis, president and CEO of Central Bi-Product's parent company, told The Des Moines Register, adding that his company periodically tests for the presence of bacteria.

Joshua Sharfstein, FDA's deputy commissioner, recently told reporters that, though the agency will take a thorough look at the feed contamination, there are "multiple ways" the feed could have become contaminated. "It could actually just be part of the general contamination of these farms... While they have found it in the feed they are not concluding any kind of cause and effect relationships."

It is unclear whether the second round of investigation marks the beginning of a criminal probe. As Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) explained this week, the marketplace may deal more of a blow to Wright County Egg than federal regulators.

"Unless they are doing something criminal or they are fined so little it doesn't hurt them, they can continue to do business," said Grassley this week, according to DTN/The Progressive Farmer.  "I don't know to what extent the law says you can permanently put someone out of business."

"But the marketplace is making the determination if the law doesn't and probably in this case, maybe the company may be hurt in the marketplace to the extent people are going to look and not buy eggs that have the word W-R-I-G-H-T in it," he said, adding that he believes the egg farms shouldn't produce food until the FDA determines the facilities are clean.

As far as not purchasing eggs bearing a "Wright" label, that may be tough for consumers at the retail level. The 550 million eggs recalled by Wright County and Hillandale this month were sold under more than a dozen different labels.

While some of the recalled product bears the "Hillandale Farms" name, consumers would have to look beyond a bevy of brand names--like Sunny Meadow, Glenview Farms, E&M Ranch, Country Eggs, and Farm Fresh--to discover their eggs were in fact produced by Wright County Egg.

Wholesalers and supermarkets are in a better position to steer clear of either company if they're concerned. Food Democracy Now!, a grassroots sustainable agriculture organization, is launching a campaign to pressure grocery stores into banning Wright County Eggs after reports that the company's owner Austin "Jack" DeCoster has a long history of environmental, worker, and food safety violations.

It remains to be seen whether both companies will keep all their customers when they are given the go-ahead to sell shell eggs to consumers again. In the meantime, eggs from both farms are being diverted to "breaker" facilities where they are pasteurized for use in processed foods and other consumer goods. 

Conference Highlights:
Opening Speaker "Rosie the Riveter"
Closing session with Jim Harsdorf, former Wisconsin Secretary of Agriculture

Selected Conference topics:
PGA Temporary Food Stands
Bugs you don't know: Less recognized, potentially pathogenic, organisms
Raw Milk Issues
Post-Pasteurization Contamination
More information can be found at http://www.wafp-wi.org/

The Washington Association for Food Protection invites you to join fellow food safety professionals at its annual conference held at beautiful Lake Chelan, WA September 22nd - 24th, 2010.

The event kicks off with an optional golf tournament September 22nd held at nearby Bear Mountain Ranch. A hospitality suite open during the evenings of the 22nd and 23rd held at Campbell's Resort allows free exchange of information, networking and companionship.

The Conference, also held at Campbell's Resort starts the morning of September 23rd and concludes with a lunch buffet on the 24th. Draft agenda to follow, late spring 2010.

Selected topics include:
Food Safety - A Historical Perspective
Farm to Table Exercise
How to Protect the Public and your Company
Ensuring Food Safety: Concept to Consumption

More information can be fount at http://www.waffp.org/events_upcoming.php?5

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service will host a red meat mobile slaughter unit information session on September 9. The goals of this information session are to educate farmers, ranchers, and processors on how to operate mobile slaughter units and meet USDA food safety requirements. The session is being held as part of USDA's "Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food" initiative.

The information session will take place from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. PDT at the University of Nevada Cooperative Extension offices located at 2621 Northgate Lane, Suite 15, in Carson City, Nev.

The Chartered Institute of Environmental Health is holding a one-day conference will focus on the implications of the latest developments in food microbiology as well as understanding the consequences of these developments for business and litigation.

By attending, you will be updated on the criteria affecting the microbiological safety and quality of food including legislation impacts. You will also be able to make more informed judgments of the risks of food contamination, and also feel confident in investigating food contamination cases.

Following on from the successful 'Enforcement and Microbiology' conference in December 2009, this conference will also update and further enlighten those responsible for strategic management and enforcement of food safety.

Selected topic: Understand how criminal corporate manslaughter legislation can be used in cases of food poisoning outbreaks, Learn lessons from the investigation and enforcement of a large prison outbreak of Salmonella, and Understand what makes a case fail in terms of evidence gathering, storage and presentation in both the criminal and civil courts

This conference is designed for EHPs, Environmental Health Technicians, Public Health Microbiologists, Strategic Risk Managers, Food Safety Consultants and all other Food Safety Professionals

More information can be found at http://www.cieh.org/events/evidence_and_enforcement_in_food_safety.html

This position is located in the Risk Assessment Division in the Office of Public Health Science.  The Risk Assessment Division consists of a Chemical Residue Risk Branch and a Microbial Risk Branch.

The incumbent serves as a Chemist/Toxicologist in the Chemical Residue Risk Branch. In this position, you will:

Serve as an expert in chemistry or toxicology within a multi- disciplinary team of scientists to develop quantitative food safety risk assessments for chemical hazards in meat, poultry, and egg products.  

Ensure that the most appropriate chemical and toxicological data and information are used within risk assessments and risk-based model developed by the Chemical Residue Risk Branch.

Conduct short-term risk assessments and safety assessments in response to emergency incidents identified by FSIS field personnel.

This includes serving on health evaluation boards to support the Agency's determination of food safety risk associated with chemical hazards to guide decisions regarding product recalls.

Serve as an expert peer reviewer in the area of chemistry and toxicology and serve on interagency reviews of risk assessment and safety assessments developed in USDA, the Environmental Protection Agency, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Food and
Drug Administration.

Monitor and evaluate the potential impact of residue/toxicological concerns in food-producing animals in HACCP based systems.

Serve as an agency expert in chemistry and/or toxicology for the identification of new and emerging chemical and/or toxicological issues related to food safety of meat, poultry and egg products.

Evaluates international (import/export) residue issues and provides planning and technical expertise for developing programs, policy and enforcement of residue control recommendations. Monitors and evaluates veterinary drug and pesticide approvals and cancellations nationally and internationally.

Evaluate and/or conduct chemical or toxicological assessments on zenobiotics and other chemical/biochemical based hazards and exposure assessments to support risk analysis. Assure appropriate public health basis of proposed immediate and long-term solutions related to human exposure to hazards.

Act as a technical liaison to plan and coordinate agency toxicological, chemical, and other multi-disciplinary projects. Represent the agency in collaborative, national or international activities.

Provide technical reviews, reports, and position papers on issues related to chemistry and toxicology and related scientific disciplines to meet agency program needs, priorities, and initiatives. Provide technical support on the toxicological review of veterinary biologics and biotechnology issues.

Respond to questions from the public and industry regarding public health and food safety issues of chemical, toxicological or related scientific concern, focusing on emerging issues in chemistry, toxicology, residue analysis, nutrition, and new technologies.

Job Announcement Number: FSIS-MCE-2010-0316

Food writer Frederick Kaufman isn’t shy about attacking the role of big business in food production. His July cover story for Harper's was subtitled “How Goldman Sachs and Wall Street Starved Millions and Got Away With It” (tell us what you really think, Fred). So when he penned a feature story for OnEarth’s Fall 2010 issue that demonstrates how megafarms could help lead the way to global sustainability (see “What’s New for Dinner”), people who care about food and farming took notice -- although some of them had a hard time stomaching the idea.

“This is greenwashed bull____,” commenter Bert Harvey opined at TreeHugger, pulling no punches. “Monoculture, large-scale agribusiness ... no matter how 'green' ... by it's very definition does quite a bit of harm to the environment.” The TreeHugger article itself was more open to the idea, saying that “with climate change, peak oil, overpopulation and overtaxed aquifers posing serious threats to our civilization, we need to be tackling these issues from every angle possible.”

Others were optimistic -- cautiously so -- about the Walmarts, PepsiCos, and Unilevers of the world participating in an ambitious consortium called the Stewardship Index for Specialty Crops. Kaufman’s account of the initiative “restores faith in big agriculture,” writes Stacey Slate at the Civil Eats blog. “If megafarms take measures to calculate and reduce their costs (in efficiency, water waste, electricity, nitrogen-use), their cash concerns will simultaneously support sustainable gains for food production.”

Leon Kaye at TriplePundit emphasizes a point from Kaufman’s piece about the reach of industrial agriculture: “Organic foods are becoming more popular -- (by) some estimate their sales have tripled or quadrupled over the past decade -- but only about 1% of the farms in the US -- and 0.5% of pastureland -- is certified organic. Will the remaining 99% of farmland really switch to organic?”

On a personal note, as a recent refugee to the cheaper housing prices across the Hudson River, I give a hearty “hear hear!” to business writer Heather Clancy at SmartPlanet, who starts her appraisal of Kaufman’s piece thusly: “My husband swears that New Jersey corn -- harvested in August and shucked and eaten as quickly as possible off the stalk -- is the sweetest that money can buy.” Finally, a legitimate reason to call my new home the Garden State.

Event Name: MPHA Annual Meeting- Mosiac of Public Health: Putting the Pieces Together

Sponsor: MPHA

Start Date: 2010-10-05

Time: 8am-4pm

Location: Augusta Civic Center

Event Description: Come join us for MPHA's 26th annual meeting.

Fee:: $75 for members and $100 for non-members

Registration Required?: Yes

Food safety scandals have helped propel rapid growth in the the organic food sector of China's economy, according to the Telegraph.

"Interest has been promoted by a series of scares including toxic beans, contaminated milk and pork, pesticide-laced dumplings, chemically-tainted chicken, and the growing presence of what is known as 'sewage oil,'" the paper reported Monday.

China now consumes more than twice as much organic food as health-conscious Japan. The market is worth an annual 10 billion yuan, or about $ 1.5 billion U.S. The U.S. organic market is worth about $25 billion annually.

The Telegraph profiled Xie Lili, 25, who runs an organic store on the internet. Lili said she had seen "a huge increase" in demand for organic salts, oils, and spices in the wake of the local food safety scares, especially the most recent revelation that up to ten percent of oil used in restaurants is recycled from sewer drains.

"The volume is 10 to 15 times greater. People became quite scared and preferred to cook at home," she said.

The paper also highlighted a 4,000-acre Duoli Organic Farm founded near Shanghai in 2005.

"In Shanghai, because land is scarce and the city has 20 million people, farmers are using up to four times the recommended amount of pesticides to boost their yields," Wang Tao, the organic farm's quality control lead, told the paper.

Despite some help from government programs to encourage more sustainable farming methods, it will likely be a decade before organic food became mainstream, said Mr. Wang.

"It is very expensive, and mostly for rich people," he said. "Also, Chinese people like to judge their food by how it looks, but organic food does not look so good. It is lumpy and has holes in it."

The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) warned consumers this week to discard any Cocon Grape Gummy 100% candy imported from Malaysia after testing revealed high levels of lead in the candy.  

According to a health department press release, the Cocon Grape Gummy Candy has been recalled by U-Can Food Trading in Los Angeles.  U-Can Food Trading imports and distributes the candy, which is produced by Cocon Food Industries in Malaysia.  

Analysis at a CDPH lab revealed that the candy contained as much as 0.19 parts per million (ppm) of lead.  California considers candies with lead levels in excess of 0.10 ppm to be contaminated.  

California health officials are encouraging consumers who find Cocon Grape Gummy 100% candy for sale to call the CDPH Complaint Hotline at (800) 495-3232.

The Agriculture Department announced this week that its Food Safety and Inspection Service will host a red meat mobile slaughter unit information session Sept. 9.   The information session, which is part of USDA's "Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food" initiative, is designed to educate farmers, ranchers, and processors about operating mobile slaughter units and meeting federal food safety requirements.

"This information session will educate small producers and processors on establishing mobile slaughter units and how to ensure the safety of the products so that they can receive the USDA federal mark of inspection," said FSIS Administrator Al Almanza in a prepared statement.

Mobile slaughter units are self-contained slaughter facilities that travel to various locations for processing.  Typically, the units provide slaughter services to small, regional producers at conveniently located host farms.

FSIS-inspected mobile slaughter units provide a feasible option for small livestock producers to provide safe, wholesome meat to local and interstate consumer markets. Livestock that can be slaughtered at these mobile units include cattle, hogs, goats, and sheep.

On May 24, the agency announced it was releasing a compliance guide for mobile slaughter units.  The document presents recommendations but is not a regulatory requirement. The guide also explains how people can comment on the requirements.

At the Sept. 9 information session FSIS officials will explain how to apply for a federal grant of inspection and discuss inspection issues unique to mobile slaughter units.  Presenters from other USDA agencies, the University of Nevada Cooperative Extension, Western Nevada College Specialty Crop Institute, and the Producer to Chef Program will speak about issues specific to mobile slaughter units.  

Federal grant and loan options will also be discussed.

The information session will take place from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. PDT at the University of Nevada Cooperative Extension offices at 2621 Northgate Lane, Suite 15, in Carson City, Nev.
 The full meeting agenda is available on the FSIS Website.
___

Prior Food Safety News coverage of mobile slaughter units:

USDA to Hold More Info Sessions on Mobile Slaughter, Jun 14, 2010

Where's the (local) beef?, May 27, 2010

Mobile Slaughter Unit Webinars Roll On, Feb 03, 2010

USDA Reaches Out To Small Meat Producers, Jan 22, 2010

Some kids have already started attending classes, and most will be back in school after Labor Day.  Many parents may justifiably be wondering about recent efforts to improve the quality of the food served to their children in these schools.

According to an Institute of Medicine Report released in October 2009, school-age children eat too many discretionary calories, too few fruits and vegetables--particularly dark green and dark orange fruits and vegetables, too few whole grains and low-fat dairy products, and too many solid fats and sugars.  Today more than 30 percent of American children are obese, and the risks to children's health are also risks to the economy, with billions of dollars spent each year treating obesity-related conditions like heart disease, diabetes, and cancer.  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have identified increased fresh fruit and vegetable consumption as one of six top strategies to control and prevent obesity.

In February, 2010, First Lady Michelle Obama launched the Let's Move! campaign to solve the childhood obesity epidemic within a generation.  As part of this effort, President Barack Obama established the Task Force on Childhood Obesity to develop and implement an interagency action plan to solve the problem of childhood obesity within a generation.  The action plan's goal is to return to a childhood obesity rate of just 5 percent by 2030, which was the rate before childhood obesity first began to rise in the late 1970s.  In May, Mrs. Obama and members of the Childhood Obesity Task Force unveiled the Task Force action plan: Solving the Problem of Childhood Obesity Within a Generation.  A key recommendation of the action plan was to provide healthy food in schools, through improvements in federally supported school lunches and breakfasts; upgrading the nutritional quality of other foods sold in schools; and improving nutrition education and the overall health of the school environment. 

Passage of the pending Child Nutrition Act is the legislative centerpiece of Let's Move!  By passing strong reauthorization legislation, the Administration hopes to reduce hunger, promote access to healthy food, and improve the overall health and nutrition of children.  Congress is still working to complete the reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act, the major federal legislation that determines school food policy and resources. The Act is reauthorized only once every five years, and is therefore an important opportunity to shape the future of school food.  The School Breakfast Program and the National School Lunch Program are permanently authorized. However the other child nutrition programs that affect school nutrition operators must be reauthorized every five years. The Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004 expired on September 30, 2009, but was extended until September 30, 2010. [1]

On August 5, 2010, the Senate unanimously passed its version of the Child Nutrition Act. The bill would partially fulfill President Obama's request for $10 billion in additional funding for child nutrition programs by providing $4.5 billion over the next decade. The bill now moves on to the House.  The House version of the bill has already passed through committee, and the final bill will need to pass the House by September 30, before the current program expires.  The House version of the bill costs $8 billion over ten years, but does not yet have sufficient offsets.  

The Senate's version of the legislation reauthorizes federal child nutrition programs, sets nutritional standards for all food sold in schools, and increases the reimbursement rate--for the first time in over three decades--by approximately 6 cents a meal.  The Act would expand the number of low-income children who are eligible for free or reduced-price school meals, largely by streamlining the paperwork required to receive the meals. It would also expand a program to provide after-school meals to at-risk children.  Foods sold in schools would be required to meet new nutrition guidelines, whether sold in the school lunch line or in vending machines. Schools would still be allowed to sell pizza and other favorites, though schools may have to substitute healthier ingredients to qualify.  School vending machines could be prohibited from selling the candy bars and high-sugar sodas that have long provided revenue for extracurricular programs.

Improved school lunch advocates have praised the Senate's efforts, but also argue that the House should push for implementation of its own broader and more comprehensive reauthorization bill. One criticism of the Senate bill is that it makes strong investments in improved nutrition but does not make needed investments in program access. The Senate bill would expand after school suppers nationwide and would facilitate enrollment in free school meals, but would do little to address other gap periods when children are known to lack access to food: breakfast, weekends, and summer.  The House Education and Labor Committee approved a strong bill in July, the Improving Nutrition for America's Children Act of 2010 (H.R.5504). This bill includes the same improvements to nutritional quality as the Senate bill but does far more to invest in increased program access. The House bill would significantly increase access to food at breakfast, after school, on weekends, and during the summer. [2]

Another significant criticism of the Senate bill is that the Senate's bill's programs would be partially paid for from another important family-assistance program, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)--the former Food Stamp Program.  SNAP serves more than 40 million low-income Americans each month, half of them children.  As 107 members of Congress wrote in a recent letter to Speaker Pelosi, cutting food assistance for families to pay for food assistance for children would essentially be robbing Peter to pay Paul. [2]

In addition to the pending proposed federal legislation, numerous and diverse efforts to improve the quality of food served in schools are taking place in other forums, on a national, state, and local level.  On August 23, 2010, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack encouraged schools throughout the country to participate in the Healthier US School Challenge (HUSSC), an initiative that helps improve the health and nutrition of children.  USDA created the HUSSC to recognize schools that maintain healthy school environments by improving the quality of meals and increasing physical activity and nutrition education.  USDA's Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) provides schools monetary incentives for earning HUSSC certification, and a range of educational and technical assistance materials that promote consumption of fruits and vegetables and other key aspects of the Dietary Guidelines--including a Menu Planner for Healthy School Meals. On August 25, 2010, the Agriculture Secretary also announced that USDA will establish a People's Garden School Pilot Program to develop and run community gardens at eligible high-poverty schools.  Through this program, students involved in the gardens would learn agriculture production practices, diet, and nutrition, learning outcomes would be evaluated. [3]

As an example of action on the local level, in May 2010 the Council of the District of Columbia unanimously passed the Healthy Schools Act of 2010.  The Act is intended to substantially improve the health, wellness, and nutrition of the public and charter school students in the District of Columbia, and took effect when the 2010-2011 school year began on August 23, 2010.   More than 55 percent of the residents of the District of Columbia are overweight or obese--including nearly half of all children.  In some wards, the rate of overweight and obesity exceeds 70 percent.  The Healthy Schools Act will, in part: require all school meals to meet the USDA Healthier US Gold Level standards; require all school meals to meet the Institute of Medicine's nutritional standards for saturated fat, trans fat, and sodium; improve the quality of school meals by providing an additional 10 cents for each breakfast and lunch meal served; and establish a farm-to-school program, providing an additional 5 cents for each lunch meal that includes local foods. [4]

Local food is gaining a stronger foothold in U.S. schools as the result of changes in government legislation and procurement rules, and the work of organizations such as the Farm to School Network--which fosters and institutionalizes programs that link local farms with schools.  Changes to federal and state legislation and procurement rules are making it easier for schools to access locally produced foods for government-funded meal programs. The Farm to School Network has worked successfully to strengthen ties between local farmers and schools. Since 2004, it's estimated that U.S. farm-to-school programs have increased from just 400 to more than 2,000 across 45 states, involving nearly 9,000 schools and more than 2,000 school districts.  A 2009 survey by the School Nutrition Association shows that 34 percent of schools across the country are serving locally sourced foods, either occasionally or every day, while an additional 22 percent plan to do so. [5]

Farm to school programs improve nutrition for children that participate in the school lunch program and lead to significant changes in their eating habits.  Farm to school programs also offer immediate and long-term economic benefits; according to a study in Oregon, every dollar school districts spent on purchases of local food stimulated an additional eighty-seven cents in economic activity. A farm to school program was first authorized by the Child Nutrition Act reauthorization of 2004, but funds were never appropriated for the effort. In 2010, the Senate's version of the Child Nutrition Act provides $40 million for farm to school programs. [6]

Celebrity chefs are also getting involved, drawing increased attention to the need for increased school food quality, and providing individual solutions.  In June, hundreds of chefs gathered at the White House to launch a national adopt-a-school program. Dubbed "Chefs Move to Schools",  the initiative has attracted both stars of the culinary universe--Rachael Ray, Tom Colicchio and Cat Cora--and also a number of other chefs who staff corporate kitchens, food banks, and culinary schools. Nearly 1,000 chefs have signed on to the program.  To date, they have already begun teaching cooking classes to hundreds of students and parents, have helped to plant school gardens, and have established a nonprofit catering service with a mission to create healthful, affordable food for public school cafeterias. [7]

Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution television show recently won an Emmy at the Emmy ceremony in Hollywood.  Oliver, a British celebrity chef turned health activist, has used the success of his show to publicize the launch of his petition to change the menus in public school lunch halls and to reign in the obesity epidemic.  Even though his show only consisted of six episodes, it gathered a significant following and numerous awards. [7]

It is obviously far too early to determine if Michelle Obama's ambitious goal to significantly decrease childhood obesity within a generation is realistic. A critical step towards that goal will be the passage of a comprehensive and robust Child Nutrition Act prior to the present September 30 deadline. Some of the organizations that are presently providing means to contact Congress requesting the passage of a comprehensive Child Nutrition Act in the next few weeks include: the School Nutrition Association, www.schoolnutrition.org the Healthy Schools Campaign, www.healthyschoolscampaign.org, and the National Farm to School Network  www.farmtoschool.org.



References:

[1]    "USDA Encourages Schools to Take the Healthier US School Challenge to Help Improve the Nutrition of School Children Nationwide", USDA Press Release, August 24, 2010.

[2]    "Why the House Child Nutrition Bill is Better for Children", Vicki B. Escarra (CEO of Feeding America), posted August 24, 2010, The Huffington Post.

[3]    "USDA Announces Funding to Expand School Community Gardens and Garden-Based Learning Opportunities", USDA Press Release, August 25, 2010.

[4]    "Healthy Schools Act of 2010", Press Release, Mary Cheh, Ward 3 DC Council.

[5]    "Local Food Makes Gains in U.S. Schools", Valerie Ward, August 13, 2010, http://greenliving.suite101.com/article.cfm/local-food-makes-gains-in-us-schools#ixzz0xZ9sz1W7.

[6]    "41 Organizations Urge Congress to Fund Farm to School Nutrition Program",  May 4, 2010, National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition.

[7]    "Chefs Move to Schools: A nutritious program kids can sink their teeth into", Jane Black, Washington Post, June 4, 2010. 

Quality Egg, which does business under the name Wright County Egg, faces a fourth lawsuit brought on behalf of a Salmonella outbreak victim by the Seattle law firm Marler Clark.  The lawsuit was filed against the egg producer yesterday in Federal District Court in Iowa. 
 
Together, Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farms recalled over a half-billion eggs in August after the two egg firms' products were determined to have caused at least 2,403 people to become ill with salmonellosis.  Illnesses have been confirmed in Alaska, California, Colorado, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Carolina, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, and Wisconsin. Wright County Egg alone recalled 380 million eggs. 
 
Marler Clark filed this latest lawsuit on behalf of a California mother of 2 who became ill after eating a custard dessert at a graduation banquet in May 2010.  She was hospitalized twice due to the severity of her Salmonella infection--once for 4 days and a second time for 5 days.  While hospitalized, the plaintiff tested positive for the outbreak strain of Salmonella enteritidis. 

The California Department of Public Health has confirmed that the eggs used to make the dessert she consumed came from Wright County Egg.

"The FDA report on these farms details appalling conditions," said food safety attorney Bill Marler, who represents several other Salmonella outbreak victims and has filed three other lawsuits against Wright County Egg.  "It's almost a given that these kind of unhygienic conditions would produce contamination and illness.  I hoped I had seen the last of this kind of disregard for public safety after the peanut butter outbreak, but this case is even worse."

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See prior Food Safety News coverage of the Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farm Salmonella outbreak.