IPGDx Blog

Food Safety’s Biggest Challenge: The American Diet

Americans are rightly concerned about the wide variety of pathogens that regularly turn up in foods common to most diets. Dietary and lifestyle factors in the US are responsible for death rates that exceed most other Westernized countries.

Few of us probably sufficiently ascribe the quality of our diet to our basic state of health.
And so as 2010 unfolds, take time to consider the fundamentals of your diet and the critical food safety issue it represents. Contaminated foods can certainly result in very serious illness, but a good diet can help ensure long-term health.

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Tags: American Diet, contaminated foods, food quality, food safety issue

Food Industry Under Pressure To Cut Salt

Packaged and restaurant foods should reduce their salt content by 25 percent over the next five years, says a national campaign led by New York City Health Commissioner Thomas Farley..

Nearly 80 percent of all salt consumed is added to foods before they are sold.

The American Meat Institute, which has published a fact sheet on the health and safety benefits of salt say it has “been active in the draft target process, participating in numerous webinars and meetings during the past several months, specifically addressing the proposed meat food category definitions, sodium reduction targets, the need for sodium functionality in meat products and food safety concerns.”

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Tags: American Meat Institute, Food safety, meat, salt

Help Desk Open for Small Meat Processors

Yesterday the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced the opening of its new help desk for small meat, poultry, and processed egg producers to help them comply with agency requirements.

“USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service is committed to providing assistance to businesses of all sizes that provide American consumers with access to a safe and healthy food supply,” said Deputy Under Secretary (and acting Under Secretary) for Food Safety, Jerold Mande. “The small plant help-desk will help the development of small, local producers by offering a one-stop shop for questions about how to make sure their meat, poultry, and processed egg products are safe, wholesome and properly labeled.”

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Tags: Food safety, Meat processors, meat safety, poultry safety, USDA