What's new at the Fresh Produce Safety Centre
8 June 2016
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The FPSC conference is moving closer. Thank you to those companies who have taken the opportunity to sponsor sessions at the Conference, Innovation in Fresh Food Safety, to be held in Sydney on Wednesday 10 August 2016.
There are still excellent sponsorship packages available.
Sponsoring provides an opportunity to:
- gain industry-leader recognition for your support of fresh produce food safety research and outreach
- receive widespread trade and public media exposure
- promote your products/services during the conference
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The FPSC will be working closely with Professor Robyn McConchie and other researchers from the Faculty of Agriculture and Environment at the University of Sydney, and more than 20 industry partners, after a new Centre ‘Food Safety in the Fresh Produce Industry’ received a $2.2 million Australian Research Council Industrial Transformation Training Centre grant. See details in first story below.
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If you have colleagues or staff who might be interested in these events and news stories, do take a moment to forward this newsletter to make sure they don't miss out!
Other new stories at the FPSC website:
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Australian Research Council to fund important food safety projects in fresh produce industry through University of Sydney and Fresh Produce Safety Centre
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FPSC: Professor Robyn McConchie and other researchers from the Faculty of Agriculture and Environment at the University of Sydney received a $2.2 million Australian Research Council Industrial Transformation Training Centre grant [...]
[Full story]
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UK: Silence is far from golden
The Business Continuity Institute: Farzad Henareh explains how an effectively managed product recall event can serve to enhance brand loyalty, but preparation and constant communication are key. In the past, companies have been reluctant to enter the recall process, worried that their brand will suffer by being associated with a problem. In fact, the opposite is now true, and if a recall is handled efficiently and quickly customers will understand the situation and may even be impressed by the quality of customer service.
[Full story]
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NL: Around the world in 1,475 Salmonella geo-serotypes
Emerging Infectious Diseases: It’s easy to remember Salmonella serotypes names, isn’t it? Surely, this is because the naming system of Salmonella serotypes is by far the most scientist friendly. Traditionally, most Salmonella serotypes have been named after geographic locations. We decided to explore the geographic locations to whichSalmonella serotypes refer and describe some unexpected twists in the naming scheme. We found that 93% (n = 1,475) of the 1,585 serotypes could be categorized as geo-serotypes; that is, the name refers to a geographic location.
[Full story]
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US: Product recalls rise with better detection and fewer suppliers
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New York Times: Frozen peas that could make you sick. A water heater that might explode. Cars with steering wheels that were prone to fail and cause a crash. Those are just a few of the thousands of products that manufacturers have recalled this year — and the deluge shows no sign of slowing. Across almost every product category, the scope and complexity of recalls are on the rise.
[Full story]
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AU: Video – Top 10 Causes of Food Poisoning
Food and Safety: We have the usual suspects as well as a couple of unexpected appearances in our “Top 10 Causes of Food Poisoning”. How many of them can you guess?
[Full story]
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AU: Reports on the use of nanotechnology in food additives and packaging
Food Standards Australia New Zealand: In 2015 an expert toxicologist prepared two reports for FSANZ on the potential use of nanotechnologies in existing food additives and food packaging. The reports were then peer reviewed by an expert pharmacologist and toxicologist to evaluate whether the conclusions for each of the reports were supported by the weight of evidence in scientific literature. The peer review agreed with the overall conclusions of the reports.
[Full story]
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CH: China’s top legislator urges food safety supervision reform
Xinhua: Chinese top legislator Zhang Dejiang has called for improvements and reforms to the country's food safety supervision system. Zhang, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), made the remarks Tuesday while presiding over a meeting of inspectors under the NPC Standing Committee to check the enforcement of the Food Safety Law.
[Full story]
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AU: GS1 and Australian Made to promote CoOL laws
Food Processing: GS1 Australia and the Australian Made Campaign will collaborate to help the food and grocery sector deliver the new country of origin labelling (CoOL) information to consumers and retailers. The Australian Government’s new food labelling legislation comes into effect on 1 July 2016, requiring food businesses selling food in Australian retail stores to begin using new, easy-to-understand food labels that clearly show where the food is grown, produced, made or packed. 
[Full story]
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AU: Cassava: the staple crop that can kill you
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Food Processing: Easy to cultivate and drought-tolerant, the cassava plant is eaten by a billion people around the world every day. But its popularity is also its weakness, as attacks by pests and diseases have a potentially huge impact on food security. It’s also the only staple crop that can kill you or cause chronic neurological disease if it’s not processed, potentially producing fatal levels of cyanide when drought-stressed.
[Full story]
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US: Not unexpectedly, a new drug-resistant ‘superbug’ pops up in the United States
Science: For years, public health experts have warned us that deadly bacteria are developing resistance to all our available antibiotics. This week, researchers reported the first known U.S. case of an Escherichia coli infection resistant to colistin, a harsh drug seen as a last resort to knock out stubborn infections. The finding, described in the American Society for Microbiology journal Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, is no big surprise to researchers tracking the rise of resistant bacteria. The resistance gene, known as mcr-1, was discovered in E. coli in China last year, and has since cropped up in Europe.
[Full story]
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AU: “Foodborne diseases: changing epidemiology and disease control” research symposium
The Centre for Infectious Diseases & Microbiology - Public Health (CIDM-PH) and the Marie Bashir Institute (MBI) are co-hosting a symposium on foodborne diseases on Thursday 1 September 2016. Key sessions will include:
- Evolution of strategies for control of foodborne diseases
- Advances in laboratory diagnosis of enteric pathogens
- Genomic surveillance of foodborne pathogens
- Improving the understanding and safety of food systems
Cost: $120 (inc GST, morning/afternoon tea and lunch)
[Further details and registration]
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FR: Danish illnesses traced to lettuce from France
Food Quality News: More than 400 people have been sickened by norovirus in Denmark by lettuce from France.
[Full story]
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US: FDA issues final food defense regulation
NZ Foreign Affairs: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today finalized a new food safety rule under the landmark, bipartisan FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) that will help to prevent wide-scale public health harm by requiring companies in the United States and abroad to take steps to prevent intentional adulteration of the food supply. While such acts are unlikely to occur, the new rule advances mitigation strategies to further protect the food supply.
[Full story]
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AU: Food Authority fact sheet: A presumptive Listeria positive
NSW Food Authority: What to do if the laboratory finds Listeria monocytogenes in your product. If your food business produces ready-to-eat food that will be stored in refrigeration for more than five days before consumption, then you need to answer the following questions …
[Full story]
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UK: Indian restaurateur jailed for killing customer with nut allergy
The Times: The owner of an Indian restaurant has been jailed for six years after serving a curry containing nuts to a customer who made it clear he had a peanut allergy. Mohammed Zaman, 53, the owner of six curry houses, was found guilty of gross negligence manslaughter at Teesside Crown Court on Monday in what is believed to be the first prosecution of its kind. 
[Full story]
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US: Food safety, environmental stewardship can co-exist
The Packer: The late Steve Jobs told a roomful of Apple groupies at MacWorld in 1997, “We have to let go of the notion that for Apple to win, Microsoft must lose.” I used a variation of that theme to frame a discussion on the challenges of co-managing food safety and environmental measures at a conference in 2009. “For food safety to win, the environment doesn’t have to lose,” I told a group of stakeholders back then.
[Full story]
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