Happy Friday! It’s March 21st, 2025. Let’s close out the week with the latest in food safety news.

What to know: The FDA is delaying enforcement of the Food Traceability Rule, which has been in the works for 14 years, by another 30 months.

In an announcement on March 20, the Food and Drug Administration said it intends to publish a proposed rule “at a later time.” The rule has already been published and approved and was set to go into effect Jan. 1, 2026. The rule was mandated by the Food Safety Modernization Act, which Congress approved in 2010.

The FDA has initiated a site inspection related to a Listeria monocytogenes outbreak that has sickened more than two dozen people.

Although it has also begun sample testing, the Food and Drug Administration is not reporting what site is being inspected or what is being sampled. The agency has not reported a traceback effort.

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A new tool about chemical contaminants in human and animal foods is available from the FDA.

The Chemical Contaminants Transparency Tool is the latest effort by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to "Make America Healthy Again.” The tool is designed for industry, but can also be used by consumers.

OPINION — By Darin Detwiler

“Thirty years ago, I wrote a New York Times op-ed titled ‘Tragedy Wasn't Enough’, in the wake of the 1993 Jack in the Box E. coli outbreak that killed four children —including my own son.”

“I wrote that piece believing — hoping — that this time, tragedy would be enough to force real change. That no other parent would have to endure what I did. That we would finally choose human safety over corporate convenience.”

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What to know: Illinois is forging ahead with the Illinois Food Safety Act to ban brominated vegetable oil (BVO) and some other additives, spotlighting a tug-of-war over who controls food safety: states or the federal government.

While the U.S. Food and Drug Administration banned BVO in July 2024, Illinois’ move— co-authored by Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias — seeks to enforce that ban at the retail level and tackle additional chemicals, potentially setting a precedent for stricter state oversight.

Researchers have been unable to find the original source in a Welsh Shigella outbreak that affected more than 50 people.

In February 2023, 52 cases of gastrointestinal illness were reported in customers of a takeaway in South Wales. Shigella flexneri serotype 2a was the causative organism.