Weekly Roundup 1-6-12

It is the first Weekly Roundup of the new year and yet you would not think that to look at the garden where daffodil shoots have already appeared above the soil.  A petunia bloomed on the back deck on New Year’s Eve.  There is still parsley available in the herb garden.  This weekend, the temperature is going to get close to 60 degrees.  We appear to be skipping Winter this year.

And in our corner of the world, it was a kind of quiet beginning to the year, but here are a few things that happened.

  • FDA Takes Action on Antimicrobial Drug Use in Food Animals – This week the agency announced that it was issuing an order that prohibited the use of the cephalosporin class of drugs from being used in food animals – specifically swine, cattle, chickens and turkeys.  This class of drugs is often used to treat human infections.  The agency said it was taking the action to prohibit unapproved uses of the class in animals.
  • Food Safety Modernization Act Update – The agency is periodically releasing reports on progress in the implementation of the FSMA.  The nice embodiment of activities, including links to speeches by FDA officicals on the subject of food safety, on a quarter by quarter basis on the agency’s newly revamped, and very spiffy, website.  The activities for this quarter include a guidance on FSMA fees as well as outreach to trade partners regarding foreign inspections.
  • More on the New FDA Website – As noted earlier this week, the FDA launched a new web site that is a vast improvement over the old one.  One aspect that bears pointing out is that on the landing page, there is a window that features a succession of updated news and facts that the agency would like to point out.  They are not agency actions, but rather point to either events that have occurred or points of view being expressed.  The old site had something similar, but the difference is that this time, the material seems to be much more relevant.  For example, the current line up features a link to helping people keep their New Year’s resolution on becoming smoke-free.  Check it out on the landing page.

That’s it for me on this balmy weekend.  Have a good one everyone and Happy New Year.

This entry was posted in Weekly Roundup. Bookmark the permalink.