News on Food Safety

China orders crackdown on cooking oil over cancer link

2010-03-19T09:16:19Z

<div><p>China's food safety watchdog has ordered inspections of cooking oil nationwide as reports Friday said up to one-tenth of Chinese supplies were illegally made and contained cancer-causing agents.</p><p>The State Food and Drug Administration on Thursday ordered stepped-up inspections of all food service providers and vowed to punish manuf...

Delauro sees U.S. food safety law in 2010

2010-03-17T14:45:52Z

<div><p>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Congress will pass a new law to overhaul the antiquated U.S. food safety system by the end of the year, U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, an influential House lawmaker, said on Wednesday.</p><p>The first major reform of the system in 50 years could be followed by another close look at how meat and poultry are inspected, and the cha...

CDC uses shopper-card data to trace salmonella

2010-03-10T19:00:22Z

<div><p>As they scrambled recently to trace the source of a salmonella outbreak that has sickened hundreds around the country, investigators from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention successfully used a new tool for the first time — the shopper cards that millions of Americans swipe every time they buy groceries.</p><p>With permission from the pati...

China to boost food safety measures after scandal

2010-03-09T20:30:29Z

<div id="subtitle">China vows to step up food safety measures in wake of dairy scandal</div><div><p>China will step up food safety efforts in the wake of a massive dairy scandal, expanding supervision to reach more of the country's countless small farms, an agriculture official said Wednesday.</p><p>China has been struggling for several years to overcome a series of food safety problems, including one that started two ...

Salmonella Contamination Leads to Recalls of Foods Containing HVP

2010-03-09T00:15:36Z

<div id="subtitle">HVP used in soups, sauces, chilis, stews, hot dogs, snack foods and other processed foods</div><div><p>Food manufacturers rushed to recall products made with hydrolyzed vegetable protein (HVP) after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it found Salmonella Tennessee in one company’s supply of the ingredient, widely-used used as a flavor enhancer in many process...

U.S. recalls common flavoring after contamination

2010-03-05T04:45:22Z

<div><p>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. food regulators announced a voluntary recall on Thursday of food made with a common flavoring that could be contaminated with salmonella bacteria but did not estimate how broad the recall will be.</p><p>The flavoring -- hydrolyzed vegetable protein -- is used in soups, sauces, hot dogs, snack foods, dressings and dips and is made by privately held United States, costing 152 billion dollars in medical costs and lost productivity, a new study has found.</p><p>The study issued Wednesday by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Reuters) - Foodborne illnesses cost the United States $152 billion in health-related expenses each year, far more than prior estimates, according to a study released by consumer and public health groups on Wednesday.</p><p>Food safety advocates are hoping the study will boost efforts in Congress to overhaul the nation's antiquated...

Study: Food-borne illnesses cost US $152 billion

2010-03-03T05:15:34Z

<div id="subtitle">New study estimates US health, other costs from food-borne illnesses are $152 billion</div><div><p>Food-borne illnesses, such as E. coli and salmonella, cost the United States $152 billion annually in health care and other losses, according to a report released Wednesday by a food safety group.</p><p>The report comes as the U.S. Senate...

China Tainted Milk

2010-02-23T03:30:43Z

FILE-In this Sept. 19, 2008 file photo, parents and their children wait for health inspection at a children's hospital in Chengdu, southwest China's Sichuan province. More than one in 10 children sickened by tainted milk still were suffering from kidney problems six months afterward, Chinese researchers have found, raising concerns about the lon...

China studies long-term impact of tainted milk

2010-02-23T03:00:25Z

<div id="subtitle">Study raises concerns of long-term problems in children after China's tainted milk scandal</div><div><p>More than one in 10 Chinese children sickened by contaminated milk showed signs of kidney damage six months afterward, researchers have found, raising concerns about the long-term effects of the country's massive food safety scandal.</p><p>At least six children died and nearly 300,000 children fell...

China says "most" melamine-tainted milk destroyed

2010-02-22T09:26:38Z

<div><p>BEIJING (Reuters) - Most of the melamine-tainted dairy products which have resurfaced in China over the past few months have been destroyed, and none has hit shop shelves or been exported, state media said on Saturday.</p><p>A number of cases of melamine in milk have appeared in th...

China says most tainted milk products recalled

2010-02-22T10:51:55Z

<div id="subtitle">China says most tainted milk products recently discovered have been recalled and destroyed</div><div><p>Most of the contaminated milk products that resurfaced in China recently have been recalled and destroyed, the Health Ministry said Saturday.</p><p>Earlier this week China declared a new food-safety campaign after melamine-tainted milk products from a...

China declares new national food-safety campaign

2010-02-22T10:24:49Z

<div><p>China declared a new food-safety campaign Wednesday after contaminated milk products from an earlier scandal showed up repackaged in several places around the country, exposing weaknesses in the country's promise to stop such problems from happening again.</p><p>Vice Premier Li Keqiang told the first meeting of a newly established food-safe...

China finds 170 more tons of tainted milk powder

2010-02-22T10:47:23Z

<div id="subtitle">China finds 170 more tons of tainted milk powder that should have been destroyed by was reused</div><div><p>The discovery has punched a 170-ton hole in China's promises to overhaul its food safety system. Officials say they've found yet another case where large amounts of tainted milk powder from the country's 2008 scandal that should have been destroyed were instead repackaged.&a...

China seizes more melamine-tainted milk powder

2010-02-22T10:53:03Z

<div><p>BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese inspectors tracing new cases of contaminated milk have shut dairy firms in the northwest and seized 72 metric tons of milk powder tainted with melamine, an industrial compound that killed at least six children in 2008.</p><p>Nearly 100 metric tons of tainted milk powder may still be on shop shel...

Tainted milk shows China's food safety challenges

2010-02-22T12:00:59Z

<div id="subtitle">Tainted milk resurfaces in China, pointing to perennial food safety challenges: experts</div><div><p>The resurfacing of tainted milk products in China highlights the challenges of policing the food supply in a country where close ties between local authorities and companies hamper regulation while producers are undertrained, experts said Thursday.</p><p&gt...

Dairy managers arrested in China milk scandal

2010-02-22T12:49:23Z

<div id="subtitle">More dairy managers arrested as China steps up crackdown on melamine-tainted milk</div><div><p>Three dairy plant managers and one milk powder dealer in central China have been arrested for allegedly selling milk products tainted with the industrial chemical melamine, shortly after the government launched a 10-day crackdown.</p><p>The chemical, which is ...

Melamine-tainted milk products found in China

2010-02-22T15:28:33Z

<div id="subtitle">New melamine-tainted milk products pulled from shelves in southern China</div><div><p>Melamine-tainted milk products have been pulled from convenience store shelves in southern China more than a year after hundreds of thousands of children were sickened in a massive milk safety scandal, a government spokeswoman said Monday.</p><p>Frozen milk products an...

China tainted milk problem kept secret for months

2010-02-23T00:14:20Z

<div id="subtitle">China kept latest tainted milk problem secret for nearly 1 year</div><div><p>Chinese authorities secretly investigated a dairy for nearly a year before announcing the company had been producing milk tainted with an industrial chemical, reflecting the country's unease with the transparency needed to restore public confidence in food safety.</p><p>The