The Brief
Recalls, FDA and USDA actions, and standards changes, briefed with what each one means for your facility.
Filtered by tag: food safety
ClearJun 29, 2026
Your Supplier's Other Customer Had an Outbreak. Nobody Told You.
Nara Organics and ByHeart never shared a label, a plant, or a brand. They shared a milk supplier. Seven months after ByHeart's infant-botulism recall, the same supplier's milk turned up in a second formula tied to the same illness, and the supplier's customer list to FDA never showed the link. The recall isn't the lesson. The blind spot is. Shared-supplier risk hides from one-up, one-down traceability, and most supplier agreements never account for it.
5 min
Jun 10, 2026
Nine Listeria Cases, One Strain, Three Years Apart
Nine Listeria cases, one genetic strain, samples spanning March 2023 to May 2026, and an unopened tub of Clover Hill requeson that still carried the strain. A strain that recurs across three years is a resident living in the plant, not a one-time slip. You tell residents from transients by sequencing your own environmental positives, not by clearing one swab at a time.
5 min
Jun 2, 2026
The Formula Changed. The Label Didn't. FSIS Caught It.
On May 31, FSIS announced a recall of about 71,603 pounds of frozen pork and crab soup dumplings. The problem was peanut, in the product and missing from the label. By Synear's own account, a formulation change caused it. Someone changed the recipe and the label never caught up. That makes this a change-control failure, not a labeling one, and the difference decides whether it happens to you.
6 min
Apr 23, 2026
New York Just Passed a GRAS Disclosure Law. Suppliers Are on the Clock.
New York's Food Safety and Chemical Disclosure Act passed the Assembly 106 to 32 on April 21, 2026, after clearing the Senate unanimously in March. It bans Red Dye 3, potassium bromate, and propylparaben outright, and makes New York the first state to require manufacturers to publicly disclose self-designated GRAS ingredients, including those currently hidden inside "natural flavor" and "spices." The ingredient intake work starts now, not after the governor signs.
7 min
Apr 17, 2026
FDA Keeps Issuing FSVP Warning Letters. Manufacturers Often Don't Know They're the Importer.
Life Plus Style Gourmet got an FDA warning letter on March 5, 2026, on the company's third FSVP inspection in four years. It joined a sustained cluster of FSVP warning letters going back to June 2025. The enforcement tool behind them, Import Alert 99-41, detains every shipment an importer brings into the country until they petition off. If you buy ingredients from a foreign supplier, you may be the FSVP importer on the hook and not know it.
7 min
Apr 8, 2026
Red No. 3 Is Banned. The Rest of the Dyes Are Next.
Red No. 3 is legally banned from food products starting January 15, 2027. The remaining six petroleum-based dyes face a "voluntary" phase-out by end of 2027, but Nestlé, General Mills, and Kraft Heinz are already reformulating. Only 11 of the top 24 food manufacturers have committed to a full removal. The labeling, supply chain, and litigation pressure will reach everyone else soon.
6 min
Apr 6, 2026
California AB 660 Takes Effect July 1: What Your Labels Need to Change
California AB 660 bans "Sell By" dates and requires all packaged food sold in the state to use standardized "BEST if Used by" or "USE by" labels starting July 1, 2026. Over 50 date phrases currently in use will become illegal. If you ship product into California and haven't started your label audit, three months is not a lot of runway.
7 min
Mar 17, 2026
SQF Edition 10: What Changed and How to Prepare Before the 2027 Deadline
SQF Edition 10 brings the biggest changes to the Code in years: a formal food safety culture requirement, a new scoring model, and competency-based training standards. Audits under the new edition begin as early as January 2027, giving most facilities about nine months to close gaps.
7 min
Mar 10, 2026
FSMA 204 Delayed to 2028: What Food Manufacturers Should Do Now
FSMA 204 got pushed to July 2028, but the requirements didn't budge. You still need lot-level traceability data at every critical tracking event, and the FDA still expects a complete electronic file within 24 hours of asking. The facilities that use this window to prepare will be fine. The ones that wait won't be.
7 min
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