News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) says the rate of Salmonella contamination in raw meat and poultry samples it has tested so far this year is down 16% from last year and 66% lower than the rate 6 years ago.

(CIDRAP News) – The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) last week announced a comprehensive research agenda for improving the efficiency and effectiveness of its food safety programs.

The "unified food safety research agenda" ranges from studying the virulence of major foodborne pathogens to developing effective food-safety training strategies, the department said.

(CIDRAP News) – The US Department of Agriculture's (USDA's) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) plans to hold a meeting Nov 13 to get the public's thoughts on how it analyzes risk.

(CIDRAP News) – A painstaking analysis of the risk of Listeria infections associated with ready-to-eat (RTE) foods shows that proper refrigeration and limiting storage time could reduce the risk by more than 50%, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced today.

(CIDRAP News) – The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) says the prevalence of Listeria monocytogenes in tested samples of ready-to-eat (RTE) meat and poultry products is down 25% for the first 9 months of this year compared with last year.

(CIDRAP News) – Supporters of irradiation as a tool for preventing foodborne disease are dismayed by a generally negative evaluation of irradiated meat in the August issue of Consumer Reports.

June 6, 2003 (CIDRAP News) – Starting next fall, meat companies will have to step up their efforts to keep Listeria monocytogenes out of deli meats and hot dogs, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced yesterday.

(CIDRAP News) – A pair of studies on Listeria monocytogenes in ready-to-eat (RTE) foods and associated illness rates suggest that only a small fraction of all Listeria-contaminated foods contain enough of the pathogen to cause illness.

(CIDRAP News) – Preliminary data for 2002 indicate that the nation is making progress against some major foodborne diseases, including Campylobacter and Listeria, but not against others, including Salmonella, one of the most common.

Feb 14, 2002 (CIDRAP News) – A new study of the risk of Listeria contamination of deli meats indicates that safety measures such as post-packaging pasteurization would yield "dramatic" public health benefits, according to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).