The FDA, Food Safety, and related topics

á        FDA and other government websites 

á        Essential FDA & related reports 

á        Book reviews & personal postings

á        Science & Food Science organizations

á        Interest Groups (some overlap w/ above)

á        news, journalism, professional publications

And here is my politics of food safety blog  

GOVERNMENT WEBSITES

á         The FDA website 

o    Recently created Office of Foods 

o    FDAÕs Science Board 

o    FDA Action Levels (how many bugs in your food, etc.—fun at parties)

o    Carl AndersonÕs Blog on FDA Stuff 

á         The CDCÕs Food Safety Office website

o     CDC Public Health Blog (excellent)

á         CongressÕ work on S 510, organized by OpenCongress.  Here is a summary from CRS.  The S. Com. on H,E,L and P had a hearing and issued the chairÕs mark in mid November of 2009.

á         CongressÕ work on HR 2749, organized by Open Congress.  Here is a summary from CRS.  

á         CongressÕ work on HR 875, organized by OpenCongress 

á         The governmentÕs Food Safety website  

á         USDAÕs Food Safety Inspection Service  (FSIS)

á         The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service works to protect US agriculture. 

á          The Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Admin. works on marketing US agricultural products. 

á         The Agricultural Marketing Service runs several commodity programs. 

á        Current FSIS Recalls 

á        Current FDA Recalls 

 

SCIENCE & FOOD SCIENCE ORGANIZATIONS

á         Defending Science, a project from GWUs School of Public Health and Heath Services.

á         Barfblog, related to KSUÕs Bites project, ÒSafe Food from Farm to Fork.Ó 

á         Marion Nestle, a top food safety expert and author, has a blog with lots of useful info. 

á         The Pump Handle is a blog with many public health specialists contributingÉ. 

á         The Center for Science in the Public Interest has a Food Safety Page  

á         The Kellogg Foundation has a Food and Society Policy program.  Their policy fellows have a blogÉ. 

á         The Food Safety Project, at Georgetown U.  Check their links page. 

á         The Center for Food Safety at the University of Georgia looks into many interesting topics. 

á         The Center for Foodborne Illness (research and prevention) was started by two people after someone they knew died of food poisoning.  

á         The folks at CIDRAP, U. Minn., have a good bibliography of food safety readings, a list of industry associations, a list of academic food safety centers, and more.  

á         The Food Safety Research Consortium did a project on Prioritizing Opportunities to Reduce Foodborne Risk, website still there.

á         Professor Daniel Carpenter, HarvardÕs Dept. of Government, ran The FDA Project, focusing on pharmaceutical regulation. 

FAVORITE FDA REPORTS AND RELATED ITEMS

á          Recent testimony on SB 510 by Commissioner Hamburg

á         FDA Science and Mission at Risk 

á         The Future of Drug Safety 

á         Key Findings from PresidentÕs Working Group on food safety

á          Federal Oversight of Food Safety (from GAOÉ note, on p. 2, the mention of points in FDA Science and Mission and Risk, and careful focus of this report—which does not touch main conclusions of FDA Science and Mission at Risk.)

á          MMWR Weekly of April 10, 2009, which tells us Òprogress toward the national health objectives has plateaued, suggesting that fundamental problems with bacterial and parasitic contamination are not being resolved.Ó

á         FSP Report, Breakdown (about lessons from a 2008 Salmonella outbreak)

INTEREST GROUPS and Interesting Political Observers

á         The Alliance for a Stronger FDA 

á         Carl AndersonÕs Blog on FDA Stuff 

á         Steven GrossmanÕs FDA MATTERS web page. 

á         Marler Clark is a leading law firm that sues companies that make people sick  They publish Food Safety News. 

á         The Pew Charitable Trusts have taken a position on food and produce safety  

á         The National Family Farm Coalition connects food safety with Ôfood sovereigntyÕ

á         The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition published a position paper on food safety issues. 

á         STOP (Safe Tables Our Priority) is a group originally motivated to act by the 1993 E.coli outbreaks

á         The Union of Concerned Scientists has a program on food and agriculture issues 

á         Food and Water Watch is what it says, an interest group that tries to monitor and influence food and water issues

á          The Community Alliance for Global Justice has a Food Justice Project  

 

BOOK REVIEWS, PERSONAL POSTS

 

My mother let me eat raw hamburger. 

Unpleasant Food Safety Story

Eat Cookie Dough 

 

á         Important book: D. Michaels, Doubt is their Product, short version of argument is here. 

á         Several book reviews are posted in the book review section of Carl AndersonÕs FDA Blog

 

NEWS, JOURNALISM, PROFESSIONAL LITERATURE

á         Ever wonder what is in Ònatural flavorsÓ?  See this excellent piece in the New Yorker by Raffi Khatchadourian.

á         excellent NYT piece on an E. coli case 

á         NYT has links to many stories on their food safety main page

á          Michael PollanÕs web page has descriptions of his books and links to many of his articles. 

á          A sign of how tough it is to get the facts:  See the International Society of Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology.  Check their Journal.  Wow, looks scientific.  Peer-reviewed, too.  And yetÉ. check their sponsors.  Oh, not listed, Òto be announced soonÓ?  They have been supported by tobacco, chemical, and drug companies.  Check the editor of the journal, and the Wikipedia page about him.  Hmmm, is this what science journals look like?  Thanks to David Michaels, Doubt is Their Product, pp. 53-4, for this example.  Michaels did not cite the Wikipedia page. 

á          Defending Science (see above) posted the table of contents, with links to articles, of the American Journal of Public Health Supplement on Scientific Evidence and Public Policy, Sept. 2005..