November 2004

The College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences at Ohio State University says consumers who buy ground beef labeled as “raised without antibiotics” don’t always get what they bargained – and likely paid a higher price — for.
A study conducted by Ohio State University food-animal health researcher Jeff LeJeune found similar numbers of food-borne pathogens and antimicrobial-resistant bacteria in samples of ground beef from conventionally reared cattle and from those whose labels claimed to have come from cows that didn’t receive any antimicrobial agents.
“At the microbiological level, there was little difference between both sample groups as far as presence of pathogens or resistant organisms,” said LeJeune, a scientist with the Food Animal Health Research Program (FAHRP) on the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center’s (OARDC) Wooster campus. “It’s incredible how close these numbers came out.”Continue Reading Food safety of ‘organic,’ conventional beef not so different, Ohio State study finds

Dangerous food potentially stays on shelves too long because of ineffective recalls, a congressional watchdog agency warns.
The McClatchy Washington Bureau reports less than half of the recalled food studied was actually returned or destroyed, the Government Accountability Office noted in its new study. Moreover, federal officials can’t issue mandatory recall orders for food – a power other agencies have over dangerous toys or medical devices.
“Consumers may be vulnerable to serious illness, hospitalization, and even death, in part, because of weaknesses in (federal) programs for monitoring companies’ recalls of unsafe food,” the GAO said.
Even so, some of the proposed solutions might cause gagging among California’s politically attuned food processors. In particular, the GAO is urging Congress to grant the Agriculture Department and Food and Drug Administration the authority to flat-out order food recalls.Continue Reading GAO: Food recalls ineffective

On October 30 the Chicago Tribune reported on the FDA’s warning that just-pressed apple cider bought from that quaint roadside farm stand could contain the E. coli bacteria.
The agency is reminding people of the dangers associated with unpasteurized fruit and vegetable juices — the kinds sold at farmers markets, stands and some juice bars — after an outbreak in upstate New York that appears to be linked to apple cider from a small orchard.
“It’s that time of year,” FDA spokesman Mike Herndon said. “In the holiday season, you’re probably going to drink cider.”Continue Reading Cider warnings are out, and some farmers aren’t happy