Food Safety News and Research

RSS

FDA takes action to prevent food distribution from rodent and insect-infested facility

U.S. Marshals seized food products at Gourmet Provisions, LLC and Royal Cup, Inc., after U.S. Food and Drug Administration investigators found widespread and active rodent and insect infestation on the premises.

21 Sep 2013

University of Nebraska-Lincoln to offer Transdisciplinary Childhood Obesity Prevention graduate program

One-third of all children and adolescents in the United States are overweight or obese. In South Dakota, 32.5 percent of children ages 5 to 19 are overweight or obese. Among Native American children in the state, that number is 48.1 percent.

19 Sep 2013

Researchers present research outcomes on food risk and benefit communication created by FoodRisC

Consumers in Europe are often overwhelmed with the vast amounts of food risk and benefit information presented to them, some of which can be perceived as conflicting or confusing.

13 Sep 2013

Researcher characterises influenza A viruses in gulls and ducks

Ducks and gulls are the natural hosts of influenza A virus. Ragnhild Tønnessen's PhD research project has characterised influenza A viruses in gulls and ducks in Norway. Her discoveries may lead to a better understanding of the epidemiology and host adaptation of influenza A virus.

12 Sep 2013

Annual treated wastewater in North America roughly equals volume of Niagara Falls; less than 4% is reused

Amid growing competition for freshwater from industry and cities, coupled with a rising world shortage of potash, nitrogen and phosphorus, an international study predicts a rapid increase in the use of treated wastewater for farming and other purposes worldwide.

7 Sep 2013

Study identifies new tool to accurately analyze mtDNA deletions associated with diseases, aging

A study published today in Aging Cell identifies a new tool to accurately analyze extremely rare mitochondrial DNA deletions associated with a range of diseases and disorders as well as aging. This approach, which relies on Droplet Digital PCR (ddPCR-) technology, will help researchers explore mtDNA deletions as potential disease biomarkers.

4 Sep 2013

Researchers develop novel technique and device for rapid pasteurization of eggs

Researchers at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) have developed a novel technique and device for rapidly pasteurizing eggs in the shell without damaging the delicate egg white. The process could lead to a sharp reduction in illnesses caused by egg-borne salmonella bacteria, a widespread public health concern.

30 Aug 2013

Researchers develop ddPCR technology to quantify rejection biomarker in organ transplant injury

A recently reported blood test for the early detection of organ transplant injury could enable more timely therapeutic intervention in transplant patients and thus help to avoid longer term damage. As described by scientists at the University Medical Center G-ttingen and Chronix Biomedical, a molecular diagnostics company, the new method uses Bio-Rad Laboratories' Droplet Digital PCR (ddPCR-) technology to overcome the obstacles of earlier tests, which were both time-consuming and costly.

28 Aug 2013

Over 1,700 new chiral HPLC/SFC applications added to Phenomenex’s online resource

Phenomenex Inc., a global leader in the research and manufacture of advanced technologies for the separation sciences, announces the addition of over 1,700 new chiral HPLC/SFC applications to its online resource, including more than 400 new SFC (supercritical fluid chromatography) methods. Phenomenex’s extensive chiral application database is unique in the industry, particularly with the addition of the SFC methods, which were developed in collaboration with the Department of Analytical Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Technology, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium.

19 Aug 2013

Novel potential biomarker present in CSF reveals signs of dementia decade before

A study published today reported the identification of what may be the earliest known biomarker associated with the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease (AD). The results suggest that this novel potential biomarker is present in cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) at least a decade before signs of dementia manifest.

16 Aug 2013

Viewpoints: Fears of health law's adverse selection; GOP's 'fundamental miscalculation;' special deal for Congress keeps dissent low

Yet despite the care the administration took in establishing incentives and safeguards, even some of Obamacare's most committed backers are wondering whether the experiment will work as advertised - or, like Harvard's P.P.O., go off the rails along the way. Adverse selection is perhaps the direst threat. ... Healthier Americans will probably flock to cheaper bronze plans. And insurers will vie to enroll the healthy. In some states, big insurers have chosen not to participate in exchanges to avoid their strictures. On the outside, they could still sell cheap plans to skim off the healthy and avoid a rule that insurers on the exchanges must also offer more generous silver and gold plans (Eduardo Porter, 8/7).

9 Aug 2013

Study demonstrates how food industry can act to restore frozen vegetable's health benefits

There was bad news, then good news from University of Illinois broccoli researchers this month. In the first study, they learned that frozen broccoli lacks the ability to form sulforaphane, the cancer-fighting phytochemical in fresh broccoli. But a second study demonstrated how the food industry can act to restore the frozen vegetable's health benefits.

7 Aug 2013

China CDC, Aeras sign MOU to advance research, development of new TB vaccines

With the global tuberculosis epidemic becoming more deadly, costly, and difficult to treat, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention and Aeras today signed a memorandum of understanding to advance research and development of new tuberculosis vaccines. An improved TB vaccine offers the best hope for eliminating this airborne infectious disease that kills 1.4 million people worldwide each year.

3 Aug 2013

Fried fish fingers generate more furanic compounds than those baked in oven

Spanish and Portuguese researchers have discovered that fried fish fingers generate more furanic compounds than those baked in the oven. To be precise, there are three times as many when fried with olive oil and twice as many with sunflower oil. These compounds improve the food's organoleptic characteristics, but are believed to be toxic and carcinogenic.

26 Jul 2013

Researchers develop PEDV rapid diagnostic test

Mere months after porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) was first confirmed in the United States swine population, University of Minnesota researchers have developed a PEDV rapid diagnostic test.

24 Jul 2013

High arsenic levels in rice pose potential threat to human health: Study

High levels of arsenic in rice have been shown to be associated with elevated genetic damage in humans, a new study has found.

22 Jul 2013

FDA revokes policy that prohibited sale of feed contaminated with Salmonella

On Tuesday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration formally revoked a 1967 policy that prohibited the sale of feed contaminated with Salmonella. As a result of this policy change the agency will allow feed known to be contaminated with Salmonella to be fed to pigs, chickens and cattle.

22 Jul 2013

Food safety tips to keep your picnic free from unpleasant side effects

July is National Picnic Month and many of us are headed outdoors to celebrate this summer ritual. As food heats up in warmer temperatures, bacteria can multiply rapidly.

20 Jul 2013

New report reveals how people's interaction with pets, kitchens influences foodborne illness

Understanding what people do in their kitchens and why will inform thinking about how to reduce the burden from illness caused by food prepared and eaten at home, according to a new report by University of Hertfordshire researchers on behalf of the Food Standards Agency.

18 Jul 2013

Creating, promoting foods containing angiogenesis is the new frontier in dietary health

Creating and promoting foods that contain natural inhibitors of unhealthy angiogenesis - the formation of blood vessels that feed and promote disease, obesity and inflammation - is the "new frontier in dietary health," according to a presentation at the 2013 Institute of Food Technologists Annual Meeting & Food Expo- in Chicago.