FDA Releases Strategies to Address Food Safety Risks From Imported Mushrooms, Onions
FDA on Sept. 26 released two strategy documents outlining the potential actions it may take to address the risks of salmonellosis and listeriosis in imported enoki and wood ear mushrooms, and of salmonellosis in imported bulb onions. The food safety prevention strategies are the first two released as a result of outbreak investigations conducted by FDA through its Coordinated Outbreak Response and Evaluation Network alongside federal, state, territorial, tribal and international partners, the agency said.
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Both prevention strategies for onions and mushrooms say FDA may potentially address food safety risks by ensuring firms are familiar with the agency’s produce safety regulations and increasing sampling of imported specialty mushrooms at ports of entry, among other things. The strategy on onions also identifies the prioritization of Food Safety Verification Program inspections of importers of bulb onions “to ensure that onion importers are verifying that foreign suppliers follow processes and procedures that provide the same level of public health protection as U.S. food safety requirements.”