[News]

McDonald’s Conducts
Chicken Slaughter Study

In response to PETA’s attack of its chicken-slaughter meth-ods, McDonald’s Corp. has conducted a study showing that its electric-jolt stunning is as humane as the controlled atmosphere stunning method advocated by PETA. With two of its major chicken suppliers participating in the study, McDonald’s concluded that there is not enough evidence to show either method as more humane. In addition, McDonald’s notes that scientific consensus mirrors its findings, however PETA claims that animal scientists side with its position. McDonald’s planned to make the study public soon.

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Food Allergy Incidence Increases in U.S. Children

A cross-sectional survey of data from several national health surveys by CDC researchers Amy Branum and Susan Lukacs concluded that food allergy prevalence and/or awareness has increased among U.S. children in recent years. According to the study, the prevalence of reported food allergy in U.S. children increased 18 percent between 1997 and 2007. In addition, ambulatory care visits tripled between 1993 and 2006, and hospitalizations with any recorded food allergy-related diagnoses increased between 1998–2000 and 2004–2006, from an average of 2,600 discharges per year to 9,500 discharges per year. However, the research notes, this increase may have been due to increased use of food allergy reporting codes.

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New Apple Stays Fresh for 14 days

Australian researchers have developed an apple that stays fresh for 14 days in a fruit bowl and for months in a refrigerator. Known as RS103-130, the Queensland government experts spent 20 years developing what they have dubbed the world’s best apple. The apple’s longevity is obtained without genetic modification, with its disease-resistant properties originating from a gene found in the Asiatic apple Malus floribunda. Tim Mulherin, Primary Industries Minister, said the state government was looking for a commercial supply partner to put the new apple on the market as early as 2010.

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QA to Host Webinar on a Uniform Approach to
Third-Party Certification in the Food Processing Industry

QA magazine announces a free January Webinar, "A Uniform Approach to Third-Party Certification in the Food Processing Industry" led by Tatiana Lorca, Ph.D., manager of food supply quality assurance programs at EcoSure (a division of Ecolab). As a registered HACCP, SQF and BRC trainer, and member of the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) Technical Committee, Lorca will focus the presentation on GFSI, highlighting key components of the SQF and BRC certification programs and including requirements for worker clothing. The Webinar will take place January 20, 2010 at 2:00 p.m. EST/11:00 a.m. PST. To participate in this free webinar visit http://giemediaevents.webex.com, and click Register next to "A Uniform Approach to Third-Party Certification in the Food Processing Industry."