Recent Articles

A Consumer Looks at Food Safety

Roy Costa
March 17, 2012 15:58

To  post guest's articles, please contact rcosta1@cfl.rr.com A Consumer Looks at Food Safety  by Lauren Bailey It’s a sad fact that many food safety hazards and issues are discovered by accident by a consumer. Consider any food safety scare from the last year: the Jensen Farm...

Food Service Industry Push Back on Letter Grades

Roy Costa
March 13, 2012 00:40

I am for a more fair system when it comes to inspections and grading. The grading numbers may not mean much, and this is because inspections are snap shots of events and there are all sorts of bias and human elements. However, when the facility maintains its records of food safety efforts, its more...

FDA and Industry-Stop Fighting and Start Cooperating

Roy Costa
March 03, 2012 14:35

Its evident that the FDA regulated food industry does not want to pay user fees. With the political climate being what it is, FDA may not get sufficient funding to carry out its mandates.   If this is the way government and industry decides on what is best for the public health, then the...

Environmental Health Down on the Farm

Roy Costa
January 29, 2012 19:06

As an environmental health professional, I have enjoyed a successful career in hands-on food protection from farm to table. My success in this wide array of conditions has come through the effective application of environmental health principles. Nowhere in food...

Food Safety Auditors Attacked in Media Feeding Frenzy

Roy Costa
January 25, 2012 06:17

Nothing affects everyday people every day more than the food they eat. So stories about food generate lots of interest. Of course, we all want our meals to be safe, and the industry takes precautions to try to ensure that happens, but in produce safety, there are a lot of misunderstandings and...

Jensen's hot potato passed to the auditor

Roy Costa
January 21, 2012 03:19

Looks like we will not see then end of the Jensen/Frontera/ Primus Auditor issue for some time. While there is plenty of room for criticism of Jensen, Fonterra, and Primus there are also problems with FDA, and this tragic incident has become a hot potato being passed to and fro by...

Improving the effectiveness of third party food safety audits

Roy Costa
November 24, 2011 16:15

The controversy continues over the value of third party audits in food safety at the fresh produce level, as pointed out by Professor Doug Powell at Kansas State University in his BITES blog. Jim Prevor, produce industry analyst, says changes are needed, while the law firm Marler-Clark is...

Toilet Paper Audits and the Writing on the Wall

Roy Costa
November 19, 2011 18:04

The noted microbiologist Mansour Samadpour has recently suggested to Bloomberg’s Stephanie Armour that (See Bill Marler's blog)  “You can make these audits useful by writing them on toilet paper. Then someone would at least use them,” said Mansour Samadpour, president of...

Desperate Times on the Farm

Roy Costa
November 13, 2011 15:07

As we trudge along in food safety at the farm level, the sense of desperation is obvious, but there is hope and movement forward.  Not only is the produce industry reeling from the recent food safety disasters in its products, the pressure is on in the labor market and on the...

A New Role for the Environmental Health Professional in Produce Food Safety

Roy Costa
November 09, 2011 03:45

While the Environmental Health professional’s role in food safety is marginalized in some places (such as in Florida, where the Environmental Health staff conduct less than 10% of the food safety inspections) there is a growing need for their involvement directed toward the safety of fresh...