FDA CFSAN News
IFSH is pleased to provide selected food safety and nutrition news highlights from the US Food and Drug Administration's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (FDA CFSAN), its consortium partner. Access to the full complement of FDA news releases, alerts, industry guidance, and regulatory notifications can be found at www.fda.gov.
December 21, 2011 - Obama administration releases food safety tips, new report on efforts to protect consumers from foodborne illness
In preparation for the holiday season, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today issued a progress report highlighting the accomplishments and strategies of President Obama’s Food Safety Working Group (FSWG) combined with useful information for consumers on safe food handling. The interagency group, chaired by Sebelius and Vilsack, was established in 2009 to advise the President on how to strengthen the U.S. food safety system for the 21st century through a coordinated federal agency approach.
Kudos & Honors
Congratulations to the following IFSH FDA Division of Food Processing Science and Technology (FDA DFPST) scientists and administrators who were awarded FDA CFSAN citations in July 2011:
Richard McDonald, PhD, FDA Division Director and Chairman of NCFST Science Forum. was recognized with the CFSAN Legacy Award in honor of his outstanding contributions by preparing the next generation of scientists and professionals for a long-term career with the FDA.
As members of the Low Acid Canned Foods Final Rule group, John Larkin, PhD, Chief, Process Engineering Branch, and Nathan Anderson, PhD, Agricultural Engineer, received the FDA Group Recognition Award for extraordinary initiative and contributions to revising the low-acid canned food regulations to allow for use of alternative temperature-indicating devices and to establish recordkeeping requirements.
As a member of the Grade "A" Equivalency for Canada team, Thomas Graham, PhD, Microbiologist, received the FDA Group Recognition Award for exemplary teamwork and performance of Grade "A" Equivalency audits of Canada's food safety program for milk and milk products
Travis Morrissey, Microbiologist, was awarded the CFSAN Quality Achievement Award in recognition of his outstanding dedication to the scientific and administrative staff of the Moffett Center and the goals of its collaborative food safety research program
The CFSAN Scientific Achievement Award for Excellence in Laboratory Science was awrded to Yoon Song, PhD, Research Food Technologist/Packaging Scientist, for development of a nationally recognized research program in food packaging seal integrity and chemical migration and technical assistance in support of compliance program.
March 16, 2011—FDA’s First Public Meeting on the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act: Focus on Imports
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently announced a public meeting entitled, “FDA Food Safety Modernization Act: A New Paradigm for Importers.” The public meeting will be held on Tuesday, March 29, 2011, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the FDA White Oak Campus, The Great Room, Building 31, Room 1503, 10903 New Hampshire Avenue, Silver Spring, MD 20993.
Feb. 14, 2011—FDA seeks to invest in foodborne illness prevention, medical product safety and countermeasures
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is requesting a budget of $4.3 billion to protect and promote the public health as part of the President’s fiscal year (FY) 2012 budget — a 33 percent increase over the FDA enacted budget for FY 2010. The FY 2012 request covers the period of Oct. 1, 2011, through Sept. 30, 2012.
The first annual Reportable Food Registry Report shows that, as Congress intended, the RFR can help FDA track patterns of food and feed adulteration and target FDA’s inspection resources to identify adulterated food/feed and prevent foodborne illnesses.
Jan. 4, 2011—Food Safety Modernization Act
The FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) was signed into law by President Obama on January 4, 2011. It aims to ensure the US food supply is safe by shifting the focus of federal regulators from responding to contamination to preventing it.
