A new study published by the Food Standards Agency in the UK finds that most of the chickens sold in that country test positive for the presence of Campylobacter bacteria. The study is the first part of a year-long survey of Campylobacter on fresh chickens. The FSA states that its number one food safety priority … Read more
Food & Water Watch has released documents, including draft press releases and emails, that they say shows the FDA colluded with the pharmaceutical company Pfizer to minimize the results of a study that links inorganic arsenic, which is a carcinogen, to the U.S. food supply. Food & Water Watch obtained the documents through the Freedom … Read more
The USDA’s FSIS announced yesterday that China has completed the “necessary paperwork” to certify four of its poultry processing plants so they can export processed poultry products to the U.S. The raw poultry will have to come from “approved sources”, but food safety advocates are concerned. Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food and Water Watch … Read more
Fifteen members of Congress sent a letter last week to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack about the new poultry inspection system that has been criticized by consumer, food safety, and workplace safety advocates. They wrote they are “extremely disappointed” that the USDA did not address their concerns about the new rule about HIMP, or the … Read more
Tyson Foods announced that as of October 1, 2014, it will no longer use antibiotics in its chicken hatcheries. Antibiotic use in farm animals for reasons other than treating disease has been linked to the evolution and development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria that have made the jump from animals to humans. Purdue announced it was also … Read more
Food & Water Watch sued the USDA yesterday to stop implementation of the New Poultry Inspection System (NPIS) rules, which would replace government food safety inspectors with company employees. Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Watch, said in a statement, “these rules essentially privatize poultry inspection, and pave the way for others in … Read more
On Thursday, July 31, 2014, the USDA published the final rule of the Modernization of Poultry Slaughter Inspection, the highly controversial change in poultry slaughter plants that food and worker safety advocates deplore. That rule removes USDA inspectors from plants and replaces them with company employees, and increases slaughter line speeds from 140 birds per … Read more
According to Food & Water Watch, Shanghai Husi Foods Company, a meat plant in China, is implicated in a Chinese food safety scandal. That plant passed USDA audits in 2004 and 2010. This is a problem because last year the USDA decided to let chicken processed in China be exported to the United States. Food … Read more
The USDA has submitted a draft final version of the HAACP Based Models Project (HIMP), the Modernization of Poultry Slaughter Inspection Rule to the Office of Management and Budget today. That rule has been criticized from everyone from food safety advocates to worker’s unions. Food & Water Watch does not like this rule, which would … Read more
Food & Water Watch has released information about problems with a chicken processing plant that is part of the HACCP-based Inspection Models Project (HIMP) that the USDA is promoting as a modernization of poultry inspection. That corporation owns two plants; one has a full staff of USDA FSIS inspectors; the other is privatized, where most … Read more