Welcome to April! It’s Tuesday, April 1st, 2025, and we’re starting the month with the latest in food safety. Let’s get into it.

What to know: The Food and Drug Administration has published new information for businesses seeking guidance on how to label foods that include known allergens.

The intent of the final guidance is to help the food industry meet the requirements for listing major food allergens — milk, egg, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, wheat, peanuts, soybeans and sesame — on the labels of FDA regulated foods.

OPINION — By Steven Grossman

“Secretary Kennedy’s announcement came last Thursday: FDA’s contribution to the pending HHS reduction in force (RIF) would be 3,500 employees. That is not quite 20 percent of the agency’s total workforce. The RIF would be in addition to an unknown number of FDA employees who have already taken buyouts.” 

“Because reviewers and inspectors are exempt, the RIF will be imposed on only a segment of the workforce. Logically, the policy, compliance, data collection, and regulatory staff are most at risk, as well as those whose jobs might be centralized at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). However, it is unclear whether the exemption is for inspectors or “inspection teams,” creating a severalfold difference in how many employees are exempt.”

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Several retailers in Australia have issued recalls because of the risk of E. coli contamination in fresh produce.

Spinach and mixed salad items have been recalled in multiple states following detection of Shiga-toxin producing E. coli (STEC) in two spinach products. The type of STEC involved has not been released by authorities.

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