Tag: Food safety regulations

According to Food Allergy Research & Education (FARE), 1 in 10 adults in the U.S. has a food allergy, making accurate food labeling a critical safeguard for public health. This is why it is important to write ingredients on a food label, as it serves as a lifeline for millions, providing essential information that allows consumers to make safe, informed choices.

According to the CDC, from 1998 to 2018, there were 202 outbreaks linked to drinking raw milk, resulting in 2,645 illnesses and 228 hospitalizations. Concerns over these outbreaks and the presence of dangerous bacteria are the primary reason why they are trying to ban raw milk sales in many jurisdictions.

In 2024, China accounted for less than 0.005% of the world's frozen beef exports, a tiny fraction that highlights its status as a net importer, not an exporter. This reality helps explain why the United States does not import beef from China through established commercial channels.

While most forms of human prion disease occur spontaneously or are hereditary, one specific type, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD), has been linked to eating meat contaminated with Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE). This connection first gained widespread attention during the 'mad cow disease' outbreak in the UK in the 1990s, raising serious food safety concerns. However, thanks to rigorous international regulations, the risk of contracting a prion disease from meat is now extremely low.

According to the World Health Organization, chemical contamination in food can lead to serious health issues, including long-term diseases like cancer. Determining what is the most harmful chemical in food is complex, as it varies based on concentration, exposure, and individual sensitivity.

While both are synthetic food colorings derived from petroleum, Red 40 and Red 3 are not the same chemical compounds and have significantly different regulatory statuses. This distinction is critical for consumers, especially given recent changes in food safety laws regarding Red Dye 3.

Since the 1950s, federal regulations in the United States have banned the use of added hormones and steroids in all poultry production. This means the widespread belief that commercial chickens are injected with hormones is a persistent and baseless myth.

An estimated 1-2% of adults and 5-8% of children have a food allergy, making accurate food information critical for public health. This is precisely why it is mandatory to provide information about allergenic ingredients, with robust regulations in place to protect consumer safety across different food business types.

According to the FDA, food-grade wax coatings on fruits and vegetables are considered safe for human consumption. So, is it safe to eat fruit with wax on it? This practice is used to replace the fruit's natural protective layer lost during washing, and the tiny amount of edible wax simply passes through the body without being absorbed.

According to the FDA's testing data, over 99.9% of milk samples tested in 2021 were found to be free of antibiotic residues. So, does regular milk have antibiotics? The answer is no, thanks to rigorous testing and strict regulations that ensure the milk you buy at the grocery store is safe and wholesome.