Breaking out
Across the pond, cantaloupes, pine nuts, romaine lettuce and sprouts caused serious outbreaks of illness in 2011, according to a recent report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in...
View ArticleBack to the freezer
The news this morning that Sainsbury’s, in partnership with Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), want food relabelled so that it can be frozen up until its 'use by' date, not just on the day of...
View ArticleDon't make light of listeria
For most of us, a bout of food poisoning – though extremely unpleasant – is inconvenient rather than life threatening. But those with suppressed immune systems, whether due to illness, chronic disease,...
View ArticleDon't economise on food safety
The topic of rising food prices seems to have been in the headlines almost daily for the past few years, but the recent change in tone shows that these increases are now hitting the consumer. Today’s...
View ArticleThey're always best served washed
After reading that the chances of James Bond dodging the 4,662 bullets fired at him during his film career and surviving is a miniscule 0.954662 I came to the conclusion that the storylines might not...
View ArticleHigher, faster – and into the unknown
If you feel that this blog has been notable by its absence over the past few weeks, you would be correct. Like millions of other citizens I’ve been devoting my spare time to the study of aero-dynamics,...
View ArticleScience – it’s a 'can-do' profession
Did you know that tin cans have now been used to store and preserve foods for 200 years? It’s the application of science at its best, I would say.It seems that the first cans (short for tinplated...
View ArticleNutty labelling
You may have seen stories in the media recently about bags of monkey nuts being withdrawn from sale because they were not labelled as peanuts. It may seem obvious that monkey nuts contain nuts, as some...
View ArticleDigestible facts about radiation
There are 27 nuclear sites situated at various points around the UK. Inevitably, as with any industrial process, they produce waste that enters the environment and may find its way into our food. But...
View ArticleFood safety: it’s more than child’s play
Have you ever learned something new while helping your children with homework or with a school project? I’m not embarrassed to admit that in the past I have. This is one of the reasons why teaching...
View ArticleReview of Chernobyl controls
An article on the front page of the Metro this morning called for restrictions to be lifted on the few farms still affected by the nuclear accident at the Chernobyl power plant. This issue has...
View ArticleFood safety – everyone’s talking about it
Obviously, staff here at the Agency have been much focused on the E.coli outbreak in Germany over the past fortnight. But it serves to remind us yet again of the importance of good food hygiene...
View ArticleIs there a clue in the code?
When investigating food poisoning outbreaks every avenue is worth following in order to build a detailed knowledge base, and gain insights into its source. There are dozens of scientists, from...
View ArticleTreating chickens
With the success of the national control plan for salmonella in chickens, it’s interesting to see research still being published that may help reduce infection further. For example, a short piece in...
View ArticleSmall pond, same big issues...
It looks like the US faces the same problem as us – their media appear intent on promoting scary headlines and shy away from good news stories that could allay consumer fears. In his blog, Trevor...
View ArticleBack to the future
Climate change, flooding, droughts, energy price rises, a squeeze on the economy could all have consequences on food safety. But how and when?A recent study provides one example: it found that the...
View ArticleThe Archers: never past its sell by date
It sounds like the recent E.coli outbreak in the Archers hasn’t just affected their ice cream – sales of all the farm’s produce has dropped off. It just goes to show ‘bad food hygiene is bad for...
View ArticleWe can beat the bugs
Our recently published study on infectious intestinal disease (IID) unearthed some worrying statistics. The research found that almost 17 million people suffer from episodes of vomiting, diarrhoea, or...
View ArticleNow wash your hands!
A woman coughs on a flight from Hong Kong. The next thing you know, a lethal unknown virus is shooting round the globe and scientists from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are racing...
View ArticleAre ‘sell by’ dates headed for the bin?
Sometimes I feel like a broken record trying to defend the importance of sticking to the humble ‘use by’ date and, conversely, reassuring people they won’t drop dead from eating a can of beans that’s...
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