Food Protection Trends - October 2012 - (Page 661)

WHAT’S HAPPENING IN FOOD SAFETY New Resource to Help Protect Consumers from Pathogen Risks in Food and Water from FSIS and EPA he U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has unveiled a new tool that will help scientists improve the quality of data collected and used to protect consumers from pathogen-related risks in food and water. The tool, a Microbial Risk Assessment (MRA) Guideline, was jointly developed with EPA as a public health collaborative project. “This new tool will help public health scientists target pathogenrelated risks and prevent them from harming the public,” USDA Under Secretary for Food Safety Dr. Elisabeth Hagen said. “We will continue to enhance the tools at our disposal to keep pace with evolving pathogens in our environment with the ultimate goal of protecting the American public and the food supply.” “This project contributes significantly to improving the quality and consistency in the way that participating federal agencies conduct microbial risk assessments, and provides greater transparency to stakeholders and other interested parties in how these agencies approach and conduct their microbial risk assessments,” said EPA Science Advisor Dr. Glenn Paulson. “Based on the success of this project, we are seeking further opportunities to combine our technical expertise in our continuing efforts to protect the public’s health.” Pathogens in food, water, and the environment can result in acute gastrointestinal-related illnesses and some can have long-term and permanent health effects as well as fatalities. In addition, the source of pathogens is the same for water and food. Recognizing this, the MRA Guideline lays out an overarching approach for conducting meaningful assessments of the risks to consumers posed by pathogen exposure. MRA procedures discussed in the document follow a user-friendly, question-and-answer format that assists risk assessors in developing microbial risk assessments to meet agency-specific needs. Formal risk assessments for food-, water-, and environmentallyrelevant chemicals have been undertaken for decades; however, an overarching microbial risk assessment guideline has not been available until now. The document meets this need by providing comprehensive, specific and descriptive information for developing assessments of microbial risk in food and water. FSIS has posted the MRA Guideline on its Web page at http:// www.fsis.usda.gov/Science/. This action is in addition to other significant public health measures FSIS has put in place during President Barack Obama’s Administration to date to safeguard the food supply, prevent foodborne illness, and improve consumers’ knowledge about the food they eat. These initiatives support the three core principles developed by the President’s Food Safety Working Group: prioritizing prevention; strengthening surveillance and enforcement; and improving response and recovery. Some of these actions include: Test-and-hold policy that will significantly reduce consumer exposure to unsafe meat products, should the policy become final, because products cannot be released into commerce until Agency test results for dangerous contaminants are known. Labeling requirements that provide better information to consumers about their food by requiring nutrition information for singleingredient raw meat and poultry products and ground or chopped products. Public Health Information System, a modernized, comprehensive database with information on public health trends and food safety violations at the nearly 6,100 plants FSIS regulates. Performance standards for poultry establishments for continued reductions in the occurrence of pathogens. After two years of enforcing the new standards, FSIS estimates that approximately 5,000 illnesses will be prevented each year under the new Campylobacter standards, and approximately 20,000 illnesses will be prevented under the revised Salmonella standards each year. T New CAST Issue Paper Examines Current Challenges in Agriculture and Provides Factual Support for U.S. Policymakers griculture and society have entered a critical phase as the global population grows in number and income while the availability of land and freshwater for agriculture diminishes. A major challenge identified by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in 2006 was how to double the global production of livestock products during the next few decades without increasing the environmental damage caused by livestock production and related activities. A new Issue Paper from the Council for Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST), titled “Water A OCTOBER 2012 | FOOD PROTECTION TRENDS 661 http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Science/ http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Science/

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Food Protection Trends - October 2012

Food Protection Trends - October 2012
Contents
Sustaining Members
From Your President
Commentary from the Executive Director
The CHEF Project
Characteristics of Food Contact Surface Materials
IAFP 2012 In Review
Award Winners
Black Pearl Award Winner
Ivan Parkin Lecture
John H. Silliker Lecture
Travel Award for State or Local Health or State Agricultural Department Employees
Student Travel Scholarships
Minutes of the 2012 Annual Business Meeting
Committee Minutes
Executive Board Response to Committee Recommendations
Silent Auction Results
Exhibitors of IAFP 2012
New Members
What’s Happening in Food Safety
Industry Products
Coming Events
Advertising Index
Journal of Food Protection Table of Contents
Membership Application

Food Protection Trends - October 2012