A Frontline report that used the Foster Farms Salmonella outbreak to show how the USDA’s lack of enforcement puts consumers at risk for severe illness, has prompted Sen. Kristin Gillibrand (D-NY) to introduce the Meat and Poultry Recall Notification Act which would provide the USDA mandatory recall authority over contaminated meat and poultry. In 2013, Foster Farms … Read more
After the USDA announced they will set new safety standards for Salmonella in poultry, the agency has announced they will set new standards on Campylobacter in chicken products as well. The standards should be released by the end of September, 2014. In a letter sent to Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), USDA secretary Tom Vilsack stated … Read more
The Foster Farms plant that was closed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA-FSIS) on Wednesday, January 8 for cockroach infestation has been cleared by the agency to reopen Saturday, January 10. The plant is one of three operated by the company that has been linked to an ongoing multi-state … Read more
The cockroaches of Foster Farms grabbed all the attention this week for giving the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) the technical reason is needed to close one of three plants associated with a multi-state Salmonella outbreak that has sickened 419 people: “insanitary conditions.” The problem is that the USDA knew there were cockroaches and other … Read more
One of the troubled Foster Farms chicken processing plants that was associated with at least one Salmonella outbreak last year has finally been closed by the USDA. For cockroaches. The Foster Farms facility in Livingston, California was closed on Wednesday, January 8, 2013 for “egregious insanitary conditions”. Inspectors found live cockroaches “in and around the … Read more
A new report to be published in the February 2014 issue of Consumer Reports finds that 97% of the chicken breasts they tested harbor pathogenic bacteria. Most deaths from food poisoning in the U.S. are attributed to poultry. So Americans must now assume that the raw chicken they bring into their houses is a hazard. Scientists … Read more