News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today issued a final rule spelling out its procedures for detaining food suspected of being hazardous because of intentional or accidental contamination.

(CIDRAP News) – The University of Minnesota and Texas A&M University will receive a total of $33 million to set up centers to research food contamination threats and foreign animal diseases, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced today.

(CIDRAP News) – The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) yesterday announced the opening of a new high-security food safety laboratory in Athens, Ga.

The $1.65 million lab is designated as biosafety level 3 (BSL-3), the second highest of four biological security ratings, the USDA said in a news release. It will be operated by the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS).

(CIDRAP News) – The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is delaying the implementation of food security rules that would require most food businesses to keep detailed records on their handling of food products and would allow the FDA to hold potentially contaminated food.

(CIDRAP News) – Dr. Garry L. McKee is leaving his post as administrator of the US Department of Agriculture's (USDA's) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) to take a position at the FSIS Technical Service Center in Omaha, Neb., USDA officials announced yesterday.

(CIDRAP News) – The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is seeking a $65 million increase in food security funds in fiscal year 2005, with more than half of the money to be used to improve capabilities for testing food for biological, chemical, and radiological contaminants.

(CIDRAP News) – New federal rules intended to prevent the use of food as a bioterrorism weapon take effect today, but it will be 8 months before the rules are fully enforced, according to the Food and Drug Admnistration (FDA).

(CIDRAP News) – Systems for rapidly detecting contaminants in drinking water should be a high priority for federal funding to make the nation's water systems more secure, according to a group of experts consulted by Congress's General Accounting Office (GAO).

(CIDRAP News) – With a Dec 12 deadline approaching, fewer than 20% of food establishments that must register with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under new regulations for protecting the US food supply have done so, FDA officials said yesterday.

(CIDRAP News) – The federal government has moved to allow individuals and groups to continue working with certain hazardous biological agents beyond the Nov 12 deadline for complying with new registration rules while the government completes background checks on those groups.