By 2050, the world’s population will reach 9.2 billion. Changing lifestyles and accelerating industrialization trends will expose more than half of those 9.2 billion people to severe water shortages.

"Ask Karen" is the FSIS’s new knowledge base interface with information about preventing foodborne illness, safe food handling and storage, and safe preparation of meat, poultry, and egg products.

Visit the web page here.

According to Deloitte’s 2011 Consumer Food and Product Insights Survey, produce processing facilities are facing the same public relations challenges as the rest of the food processing industry: rising consumer concerns about food pathogens and other dangers in the foods they buy.

Food Safety News recently published an informative article on taking a new view of your processing environment based on, not only positive Listeria tests, but negative ones.

Read the full article here.

I read an excellent article on laundry costs and laundry water recycling on the Alliance for Water Efficiency’s website, and thought it would be worth sharing, as it specifically mentions membrane filter technology as an effective way of recycling laundry water.

The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is amending the Federal meat and poultry products inspection regulations to establish a new voluntary cooperative program under which state-inspected establishments with 25 or fewer employees will be eligible to ship meat  and poultry products across state lines.

Read the regulation here.

The USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) recently recommended that the Secretary of Agriculture approve establishment of the National Leafy Green Marketing Agreement (NLGMA), a voluntary measure intended to regulate the handling of leafy green vegetables across the nation. The program’s intent is to reduce the potential for foodborne pathogens and improve consumer confidence in these products.
The proposal has been in development since 2009, based on feasibility hearings held by the USDA. The agreement would allow member producers to obtain a USDA seal of product approval certifying compliance with food safety requirements.

The USDA's March announcement of new performance standards for commercial poultry production facilities has many operators looking for better ways to control foodborne pathogens. The agency’s new standard for salmonella allows a maximum of 7.5 percent of raw chickens to test positive, and the new Campylobacter standard allows a maximum of 10.4 percent of raw chickens and 0.79 percent of raw turkeys to test positive.

On April 5, 2011, the USDA proposed a new requirement for the meat and poultry industries aimed at reducing the amount of unsafe foods that reach consumers. With the enactment of this requirement, the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) would have the power to restrict products from commerce until FSIS test results are received.

Annual wastewater treatment costs are expected to rise at a moderate pace over the next five years, with price increases projected to remain under 5 percent for the period, according to a majority of those responding to a recent survey of subscribers to Industrial WaterWorld Magazine.

Read the full story at Waterworld.com.