The United States Department of Agriculture and the United State Food and Drug Administration have teamed up to develop a new food safety website they say will include how-to information and provide a currrent listing of recalled products.

Click here for the the new site.

It seems that every time there is an outbreak of food borne illness, production agriculture is somehow blamed and often even suffers severe financial losses. This is frustrating to producers and those of us in the business of regulating and promoting agriculture because we know the greatest contributors to food borne illnesses are the people who come in contact with food after it leaves the grocery store.

Today I read a report that tells me this trend is actually getting worse. The International Food Information Council Foundation recently released its “2009 Food and Health Survey: Consumer Attitudes Toward Food, Nutrition and Health.”

According to the survey, nearly 40 percent of consumers do not seperate raw meats, poultry and seafood from other foods during preparation and only about half the respondents said they used seperate cutting boards for meats and other foods during preparation.

Perhaps most frustrating was the fact that less than half the people surveyed felt our food supply is safe and wholesome…then again, with their admitted deficiencies in food prepartation, I guess their food supply is at risk.

–Jack Carson

Oklahoma Secretary of Agriculture, Terry Peach, said data from the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and other health agencies confirm that eating pork cannot cause people to become infected with the H1N1 influenza virus currently causing concern.

“This is in no way an agricultural or food safety issue and it is unfortunate that there are people who still do not understand this,” he said. “We must keep repeating this message as our state and national swine producers are suffering financial devastation due to misconceptions regarding this disease and how it is spread.”

CDC reports that none of the people confirmed infected with the influenza virus had any type of contact with swine or other farm animals prior to becoming ill, Peach added. In fact, the national health agency said the virus has not been diagnosed in any animals at this time.

“Another important thing to realize is that this novel virus has never been found before in either humans or animals,” he said. “Our Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food, and Forestry animal health staff is constantly monitoring the efforts of all health agencies involved and we are especially grateful for the cooperation and consideration we’ve received from the Oklahoma Department of Health.”

Common sense food handling remains important to prevent common food borne illnesses. Prepare foods only on surfaces and in utensils that have been properly cleaned, wash hands before cooking, between cooking steps and afterwards. Take care not to cross contaminate cooking surfaces or utensils, and cook foods to the proper temperature.

Extremist attacks on global food chain increase
By Drovers news source (2/25/2009)

Attacks on the global food chain from animal-rights and environmental extremists jumped 42 percent — from 155 in 2007 to 220 in 2008 — according to Arlington, Va.-based Animal Agriculture Alliance. Worse yet, claimed attacks on food retailers in the United States from groups like the Animal Liberation Front exploded 377 percent.

The alliance indicated that Bite Back magazine was its main source for compiling data on terrorist acts claimed by Animal Liberation Front; Earth Liberation Front; DBF, a branch of ALF found in Sweden and the Netherlands; and other animal-rights terrorist groups. But independent media reports and state agriculture groups also provided critical information.

The information compiled by the alliance showed that ALF, ELF, DBF and related groups claimed a total of 640 acts of sabotage, vandalism and arson in 2008, up from 467 in 2007, an increase of over 35 percent. The overall level of animal-rights extremist attacks in the United States on businesses that use animals — including medical research, consumer product safety, pets, circuses, rodeos, fur shops, hunting stores, farmers, ranchers, food retailers — surged nearly 40 percent. An even more troubling development is the massive expansion of damages inflicted upon food retailers. Claimed attacks on food retailers in the United States, especially the brand names of McDonald’s, Burger King, KFC and Hardee’s, increased from 9 in 2007 to 34 in 2008, an increase of 377 percent.

Destruction or defacement of property — especially smashing windows, etching windows, and painting (or paint bombing) windows, buildings, vans and billboards — were the techniques most frequently used by extremist groups in their attempts to intimidate food chain businesses to shut down. The groups also adopted a new unsavory technique this year, using sponges to block toilets and urinals to cause expensive flooding and extensive clean-up.

In terms of terrorist activities, global animal-rights extremist groups combined to claim over 600 separate terrorist acts, including:

Arson
Firebombing autos and trucks
Paint bombs
Death threats
Theft
bomb threats
Product tampering hoaxes
Vandalizing gravesites
Acid-etching windows
Gluing locks
Paint stripping cars
Slashing tires
Flooding facilities
Cutting off utilities to restaurants
Hacking web sites
Damaging equipment
Extremists claimed responsibility for the “liberation” of thousands of animals during the year and millions of dollars in damage. Mexico appears to be an emerging center for animal-rights terrorism. In 2008, extremist groups in Mexico claimed more than double the amount of attacks than were claimed in the United States.

As disturbing as this news might be, the geographic array of attacks in the United States is equally disturbing. “We have seen a significant change in extremist activity directed against the food chain,” said Kay Johnson Smith, executive vice president of the Animal Agriculture Alliance. “The numbers of attacks against food retailers in hotbeds of extremism like California and New York were noticeably lower, while attacks in other areas not widely associated with animal-rights extremism increased markedly. For instance, the greater Kansas City, Kan., area appears to be the new home of an ALF cell, with two attacks having been claimed in the second half of 2008, one in Lenexa and the other in Overland Park. An ALF cell in Georgia claimed five actions. One targeted a butcher shop, another hit a meat company and three more were aimed at quick-serve restaurants. Further, ALF cells in North Carolina, South Carolina, Utah and Texas all claimed actions.

“The message is loud and clear that the agenda of these groups is focused solely on advancing a vegan agenda through destruction and intimidation,” Johnson Smith said. “The fact that extremists are willing to massively increase their attacks on the food chain during a serious economic downturn should cause major alarm for all companies and organizations responsible for feeding people. The exponential escalation of attacks is shocking and disturbing. All companies in the food chain need to be vigilant, enhance their security efforts and be sure to report all incidents to their local police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.”

For more information on securing your facilities, contact the Animal Agriculture Alliance at info@animalagalliance.org or visit the Web site at www.animalagalliance.org.

Reprinted with permission from Drover’s Alert.