Food Quality and Safety

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Food quality and safety is of growing interest to consumers and thus to regulators. The United States Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration are leading the way with on-farm and processing guidelines. Here are some links to bring you up to speed on these issues.


"New" Read our new On-Farm Food Safety Frequently Asked Questions page. Click here!


Daily news on food safety!


Economics of Food Safety


Food Recall and Safety Notices

  • FDA recall and safety notices
  • Food recalls at SafetyAlerts.com - up-to-date info on food and product recalls.
  • FoodNet - "The Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network (FoodNet) is the principal foodborne disease component of CDC's Emerging Infections Program (EIP)."
  • "New" ProMED - Program for monitoring emerging diseases by the Federation of American Scientists.
  • PulseNet - "is a national network of public health laboratories that performs DNA "fingerprinting" on bacteria that may be foodborne. The network permits rapid comparison of these "fingerprint" patterns through an electronic database at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The DNA "fingerprinting" method is called pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). "
  • USDA recall notices


Regulations every food producer and processor needs to be familiar with.

Federal

FDA regulations
Title 21, Code of Federal Regulations: 21 CFR 100-169 and 21 CFR 170-199. Sections of Title 21, such as 21 CFR 110.10, can be viewed and printed from the WWW at the following address: http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/. You may purchase 21 CFR 100-169 or 21 CFR 170-199 from the U.S. Government Printing Office or by telephone purchase at (202) 512-1800. FDA regulations may also be purchased at local branches of the U.S. Government Printing Office Bookstores.

OSHA standards
OSHA General Industry standards, Title 29 CFR 1910, and OSHA Agricultural Industry standards, Title 29 CFR 1928, may be purchased through a U.S. Government Printing Office or by telephone purchase at (202) 512-1800. 29 CFR 1910.141 and 29 CFR 1928.110, that are referenced in the guide may be viewed and printed from the WWW at the following address: http://www.osha-slc.gov/OshStd_toc/OSHA_Std_toc.html

EPA regulations
EPA regulations may be obtained by contacting the U.S. EPA/NCEPI, P.O. Box 42419, Cincinnati, OH 45242-2419. Telephone: 1-800-490-9198; FAX (513) 489-8695. You must give the EPA catalog number for the publication.

  • Electronic versions of additional EPA documents, such as criteria and supporting documents, are available at http://www.epa.gov.
  • National Agriculture Compliance Assistance Center. This is a joint project with USDA and it is collecting information on the environmental requirements that affect the agriculture industry. Has listing of best production practices and legislation.


State of Hawaii

Hawaii Department of Agriculture

HIOSH standards
Hawaii Occupational Safety and Health Division HIOSH standards can be found at http://www.state.hi.us/dlir/hiosh/.

Hawaii Department of Health
Hawaii Administrative Rules - TITLE 11 - some rules relate to agricultural businesses.

Hawaii Department of Labor and Industrial Relations
This department can be reached at http://dlir.state.hi.us/.


State of California


General advice about safer farming

Hawaii Resources on Food Safety


US Government's Gateway to Food Safety Information

US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

US Department of Agriculture

US Department of Commerce

US Department of Defense

  • "New" U.S. Air Force Food Safety site
  • "New" U.S. Army Veterinary Command (VETCOM) - Listing of approved food suppliers by State and Product. The United States Army Veterinary Command (VETCOM) provides military veterinary services in support of United States Army Medical Command (MEDCOM) and Department of Defense (DOD) missions in their areas of responsibility. The responsibilities of VETCOM include food safety and quality assurance, care of government owned animals, and animal disease prevention and control.

US Environmental Protection Agency

US Food and Drug Administration

US Institutes of Medicine


Links and publications of interest

Food Irradiation and Biotechnology

  • Alliance for Better Foods - a trade group promoting bio-tech foods.
  • Center for Consumer Research (UC Davis) "The Center focuses on consumer attitudes toward food safety and quality. Increased information on consumer attitudes and perceptions can increase the exchange between those who provide goods and services and those who utilize them. Questions and answers about food irradiation and biotechnology."
  • Council for Biotechnology Information - "Biotechnology Information has been founded by leading biotechnology companies to create a public dialogue and share information about biotechnology that is based on objective scientific research, independent expert opinion and peer-reviewed published reports."
  • Most often asked questions about food irradiation and other valuable links on the subject (Univ. of Michigan)

International Organizations Working on Food Safety

Food Safety in Food Processing Establishments and Trade Associations

Postharvest Handling Advice

Home and Kids Food Safety

Third-party food safety auditing companies (this is not an endorsement of any kind)

Law firms who specialize on food safety (this is not an endorsement of any kind)


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