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FDA Announces Public Meeting on Listeria FDA Provides Consumer Tips for Detecting Food Tampering

FDA Announces Public Meeting on Listeria

FDA will hold a public meeting on "Relative Risk to Public Health From Foodborne Listeria Monocytogenes Among Selected Categories of Ready-to-Eat Foods; Quantitative Risk Assessment and Risk Management Action Plan." The meeting will be December 4 at FDA's Harvey W. Wiley Building in College Park, Maryland. Information will be presented relative to the risk management action plan that has been updated in light of the results of the risk assessment, which was conducted by FDA in cooperation with the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) of USDA and in consultation with CDC. The notice of availability of the risk assessment was published in the Federal Register on October 24, 2003. The public meeting is intended to provide clarification about the results of the risk assessment and information as to how the risk assessment may be utilized. Stakeholders will have an opportunity to ask questions about the risk assessment and the risk management action plan. The Federal Register notice of the meeting is at http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~lrd/fr03117b.html.

FDA Provides Consumer Tips for Detecting Food Tampering

FDA has posted a food safety News Flash entitled "Food Tampering, An Extra Ounce of Caution," on its website at http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/fstamper.html. The News Flash aims to alert consumers about things that they can look for as signs of potential tampering.

Consumer tips include:

• Carefully examine all food product packaging.
• Check any anti-tampering devices on packages.
• Don't purchase products if the packaging is open, torn, or damaged.
• Don't buy products that are damaged or look unusual.
• Check the "sell-by" dates.
• When opening a container, carefully inspect the product.
• Never eat food from products that are damaged or look unusual.

The News Flash provides information about whom to contact to report a suspected product, as well as the four simple steps (clean, separate, cook, and chill) that consumers can take to protect their families from harmful bacteria that may be present in food.

 

Food Safety and Security Staff E-mail:

Office Number: (301) 436-2277· FAX (301) 436-2605 CFSAN Web site: http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/