The Arizona Food Service Network connects all people, events, resources, and organizations associated with Arizona food, food service, and food science.
The 2020 agenda covers subjects like:
An Ada County man is suing an Idaho distributor claiming lettuce it sold to Costco Wholesale sickened him with E. coli.
The civil lawsuit, filed in 4th District Court on Aug. 17, claims Jordan Anglen, a 23-year-old Costco employee, bought a Caesar salad on March 25 from the food court at Costco on Cole Road in Boise, which sickened him days later. According to the complaint, he tested positive for the same strain of E. coli as a nationwide outbreak that occurred earlier this year.
Read more at the source: Local man sickened by E. coli sues Idaho distributor
Every day the average American throws out nearly a pound of food, according to a recent study from the Department of Agriculture. There are plenty of reasons why good, usable food gets tossed—picky kids, overstocked pantries, or even leftovers that sit in refrigerators too long.
But another major factor is the misconception about what all of those dates on food package labels—“sell by,” “use by,” and “best if used by”—really mean. Ninety percent of Americans misinterpret the dates on labels, according to a recent study from the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and throw out food that could still be consumed or frozen for later use.
That raises the question: If expiration dates aren’t a reliable gauge of food spoilage, how does a consumer know what to keep and what to toss?
Read more from the source: How to Tell Whether Expired Food Is Safe to Eat
Federal officials issued a public health alert Monday night warning people to watch for signs of parasitic infections if they have eaten any of more than two dozen varieties of wraps and salads sold nationwide by retailers including Kroger and Trader Joe’s.
The distributor of the ready-to-eat products said lettuce supplied by Fresh Express is responsible for the health alert. Indianapolis-based distributor Caito Foods LLC reported that officials with Fresh Express had issued a recall notice for chopped romaine that was used in the wraps and salads. The products are packaged under a variety of brand names.
Read more from the source: Parasite risk in wraps, salads spurs warning; romaine blamed
Food Safety Matters Podcast Interviews Recognized Food Safety Expert Kathy Gombas Food Safety Magazine Full coverage
Source: Food Safety Matters Podcast Interviews Recognized Food Safety Expert Kathy Gombas
CHICAGO — Even though more foodborne illness outbreaks are being detected than there were a few years ago, state and federal officials say significant progress has been made in the fight for food safety. Technological and scientific advances such as whole genome sequencing are credited for much of the progress, but the three P’s are the most effective weapon in the arsenals of public health and private business.
Source: People are the secret weapon in the war on foodborne illnesses
Laura Strawn of Virginia Tech was one of the workshop presenters at the 2017 IAFP conference in Tampa. Her research interests focus on enhanced microbial safety of produce production at both the pre- and post-harvest level.
The International Association for Food Protection (IAFP) has announced the workshop lineup for its annual conference, set for this summer, and will begin taking workshop registrations March 20.
The event is set for July 8-11 in Salt Lake City.
The IAFP hosts the annual event to provide information on current and emerging food safety issues, the latest science, and innovative solutions to new and recurring problems. The conference provides the opportunity to network with thousands of food safety professionals from academia, government and industry from around the globe. Additionally, attendees can register to attend one or more of the following conference workshops:
Hygienic Design and Sanitation
Standardized Biofilm Methods for Laboratory Studies of Biofilms
The event has grown to become the leading food safety conference worldwide, with attendance of more than 3,600 people from industry, academia and government from six continents.
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Several grocery stores and retail outlets have recalled bulk packages of International Harvest brand Organic Coconut Miles with UPC number 8 13449 02099 3 and the expiration date 6/1/2018. That product was sold at retail stores in New York City and Long Island.
Now, the list of cities and locations that received dried coconut from International Harvest has been published by the FDA. The recalled bulk dried coconut may have been repackaged into clear, plastic containers with grocery store labeling, or it may have been sold in bulk bins.
Read more from the source: FDA Identifies 16 Retail Locations That May Have Sold Dried Coconut Potentially Contaminated with Salmonella
Imported molluscan shellfish from Europe are as safe as if they were harvested off Puget Sound or Massachusetts Bay, according to a Food and Drug Administration finding. FDA’s equivalence determination means two-way raw shellfish trade across the Atlantic is likely to be back on after a lapse of almost eight years.
“I plan to announce more over the coming year about this proposed equivalence determination as we continue to work with the EU (European Union) on the details for resuming mutually beneficial trade in this area,” said a statement from FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb.
“In the meantime, I’m committed to taking new approaches like this to maximize our shared resources and create greater efficiency in the trade of molluscan shellfish.”
The U.S. and EU have not traded any raw molluscan shellfish products for nearly eights years. The European Commission has not allowed U.S. shellfish to enter the EU since 2010. The FDA has not permitted the import of live, fresh or fresh-frozen molluscan shellfish from the EU since the 1980s.
