K-State Research and Extension

Beyond creating delicious meals, people who write recipes have an important role to play in helping others remember to cook their food safely. Did you know that when recipes include food safety tips, people are more likely to follow those steps and cook their foods safely?

Help prevent the spread of foodborne illness by including simple reminders for safe food handling and preparation in all your recipes. Learn how to add tips for fruits and vegetables; meat, poultry, seafood, eggs, and flour; and how to store food safely at https://bit.ly/2IJOrsH.

In accordance to specific rules in the Delaney Clause, the Food and Drug Administration has removed seven flavor additives from being used in food manufacturing.

The Delaney Clause is legislation, passed by the U.S. Congress in 1958, that forbids the use of any food additives that can be carcinogenic to any animal or in humans. Therefore, these seven additives are removed based on this law.

The removed flavors are synthetically-derived benzophenone, ethyl acrylate, eugenyl methyl ether (methyl eugenol), myrcene, pulegone, and pyridine. The seventh flavor, styrene, is being delisted because it is no longer used. This action is based on the law, not because they are unsafe to use at the recommended usage level.

These flavor compounds are naturally found in grapes, pineapples, oranges and other foods. They were used in bakery and confectionary processing.

Sources:

https://bit.ly/2IETSsS

https://bit.ly/2OXj6ID

In recent years, consumers have been victims to cantaloupe food recalls due to pathogenic contamination from the growing environment, insects, animals, or human contact. Research conducted at the University of Connecticut has shown a possible new way to prevent the growth of pathogens on cantaloupe rinds.

Cantaloupe rinds are difficult to clean and disinfect. Chlorine is typically used, but is not always effective. Researchers used the probiotic, lactic acid bacteria (LAB), that acts as a natural biological control method. LAB are used in fermented foods like yogurt and cheese. They could be biosanitizers for controlling plant pathogens and soil-borne pathogens as a natural antimicrobial tool for effective decontamination.

Research is on-going with the hope of promising results!

Source: https://today.uconn.edu/2018/06/probiotics-effective-keeping-cantaloupes-safe-eat/#

In 2016, 839 foodborne disease outbreaks were reported to CDC, according to a recently released annual summary from the National Outbreak Reporting System (NORS). The data comes from reports that state, local, and territorial public health agencies submitted to the Foodborne Disease Outbreak Surveillance System using NORS, and includes single-state and multistate outbreaks.

Even though only a small proportion of these illnesses occur as part of a recognized outbreak, the data collected during outbreak investigations provide insights into the pathogens and foods that cause illness. Public health officials, regulatory agencies, and the food industry can use these data to help make food safer from farm to table.

See the full report at www.cdc.gov/fdoss/annual-reports/2016-report-highlights.html