Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and related agencies appropriations for 2013 : hearings before a Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations, House of Representatives, One Hundred Twelfth Congress, second session /

Shipping list no.: 2012-0266-P (pt. 1A), 2012-0262-P (pt. 1B), 2012-0267-P (pt. 1C), 2012-0317-P (pt. 2), 2013-0006 (pt. 3), 2013-0008-P (pt. 4), 2013-0027-P (pt. 5), 2013-0033-P (pt. 6), 2013-0042-P (pt. 7), 2013-0038-P (pt. 9).

Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and related agencies appropriations for 2012 : hearings before a Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations, House of Representatives, One Hundred Twelfth Congress, first session /

Shipping list number: 2011-0276-P (pt. 1A), 2011-0274-P (pt. 1B), 2011-0283-P (pt. 1C), 2011-0318-P (pt. 2), 2011-0339-P (pt. 4), 2011-0366-P (pt. 5), 2011-0375-P (pt. 6), 2011-0367-P (pt. 7), 2011-0372-P (pt. 8), 2012-0014-P (pt. 9).

Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and related agencies appropriations for 2005 : hearings before a subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations, House of Representatives, One Hundred Eighth Congress, second session /

Shipping list no.: 2004-0116-P (pts. 1A-B), 2004-0162-P (pt.2), 2004-0180-P (pt. 3), 2004-0204-P (pt. 4), 2004-0198-P (pt. 5), 2004-0199-P (pt. 6), 2004-0207-P (pt. 7), 2004-0208-P (pt. 8).

Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and related agencies appropriations for 2006 : hearings before a Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations, House of Representatives, One Hundred Ninth Congress, first session /

Shipping list no. : 2005-0156-P (pt. 1A), 2005-0131-P (pt. 1B), 2005-0136-P (pt. 2), 2005-0172-P (pt. 3-5, 7), 2005-0185-P (pt. 6), 2005-0168-P (pt. 8), 2006-0066-P (pt. 9).

ASCIA guidelines for prevention of food anaphylactic reactions in schools, preschools and child-care centres

These guidelines have been developed by the anaphylaxis working party of the Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy to provide advice for minimizing the risk of food-induced anaphylaxis in schools, preschools and child-care centres. The guidelines outline four steps for the prevention of food anaphylactic reactions in children at risk and food policy measures specific to school age and preschool age children.

Growth temperature of four Campylobacter jejuni strains influences their subsequent survival in food and water

Aim: To determine if Campylobacter jejuni grown at 37 and 42 degrees C have different abilities to survive on beef and chicken, and in water. Methods and Results: Beef, chicken and water were separately inoculated with four Camp. jejuni (two poultry and two beef) strains grown at 37 or 42 degrees C. The matrices were stored at similar to 4 degrees C and Camp. jejuni numbers were monitored over time by plate counts. On beef there was a greater decrease in number for two strains (P < 0.05; similar to 0.7 and 1.3 log CFU cm(-2)) grown at 37 degrees C as compared with 42 degrees C. By contrast on chicken there was a decrease in numbers for two strains (P < 0.05; similar to 1.3 and 1 log CFU g(-1)) grown at 42 degrees C as compared with 37 degrees C. In water there was a greater decrease in numbers for all strains (P < 0.05; similar to 3-5.3 log CFU ml(-1)) grown at 42 degrees C as compared with 37 degrees C. Conclusions: Growth temperature influences the survival of Camp. jejuni on food and in water. Significance and Impact of this study: Campylobacter jejuni survival studies need to consider growth temperature to avoid erroneous results. Campylobacter jejuni grown at 37 degrees C, the body temperature of humans and cattle, may represent a greater public health risk in water than those grown at 42 degrees C, the body temperature of poultry.

Multi-scale approaches to Food Sciences: computational QM and MM explorations at the microscopic level

L'obiettivo principale della politica di sicurezza alimentare è quello di garantire la salute dei consumatori attraverso regole e protocolli di sicurezza specifici. Al fine di rispondere ai requisiti di sicurezza alimentare e standardizzazione della qualità, nel 2002 il Parlamento Europeo e il Consiglio dell'UE (Regolamento (CE) 178/2002 (CE, 2002)), hanno cercato di uniformare concetti, principi e procedure in modo da fornire una base comune in materia di disciplina degli alimenti e mangimi provenienti da Stati membri a livello comunitario. La formalizzazione di regole e protocolli di standardizzazione dovrebbe però passare attraverso una più dettagliata e accurata comprensione ed armonizzazione delle proprietà globali (macroscopiche), pseudo-locali (mesoscopiche), ed eventualmente, locali (microscopiche) dei prodotti alimentari. L'obiettivo principale di questa tesi di dottorato è di illustrare come le tecniche computazionali possano rappresentare un valido supporto per l'analisi e ciò tramite (i) l’applicazione di protocolli e (ii) miglioramento delle tecniche ampiamente applicate. Una dimostrazione diretta delle potenzialità già offerte dagli approcci computazionali viene offerta nel primo lavoro in cui un virtual screening basato su docking è stato applicato al fine di valutare la preliminare xeno-androgenicità di alcuni contaminanti alimentari. Il secondo e terzo lavoro riguardano lo sviluppo e la convalida di nuovi descrittori chimico-fisici in un contesto 3D-QSAR. Denominata HyPhar (Hydrophobic Pharmacophore), la nuova metodologia così messa a punto è stata usata per esplorare il tema della selettività tra bersagli molecolari strutturalmente correlati e ha così dimostrato di possedere i necessari requisiti di applicabilità e adattabilità in un contesto alimentare. Nel complesso, i risultati ci permettono di essere fiduciosi nel potenziale impatto che le tecniche in silico potranno avere nella identificazione e chiarificazione di eventi molecolari implicati negli aspetti tossicologici e nutrizionali degli alimenti.

The evaluation and development of the lead authority partnership scheme as a central intervention strategy for health and safety enforcement by local authorities

The research comprises a suite of studies that examines and develops the Lead Authority Partnership Scheme (LAPS) as a central intervention strategy for health and safety by local authority (LA) enforcers. Partnership working is a regulatory concept that in recent years has become more popular but there has been little research conducted to investigate, explore and evaluate its practical application. The study reviewed two contrasting approaches to partnership working between LAs and businesses, both of which were intended to secure improvements in the consistency of enforcement by the regulators and in the health and safety management systems of the participating businesses. The first was a well-established and highly prescriptive approach that required a substantial resource commitment on the part of the LA responsible for conducting a safety management review (SMR) of the business. As a result of his evaluation of the existing ‘full SMR’ scheme, the author developed a second, more flexible approach to partnership working. The research framework was based upon a primarily qualitative methodology intended to investigate and explore the impact of the new flexible arrangements for partnership working. The findings from this study of the flexible development of the scheme were compared and contrasted with those from studies of the established ‘full SMR’ scheme. A substantial degree of triangulation was applied in an attempt to strengthen validity and broaden applicability of the research findings. Key informant interviews, participant observation, document/archive reviews, questionnaires and surveys all their particular part to play in the overall study. The findings from this research revealed that LAPS failed to deliver consistency of LA enforcement across multiple-outlet businesses and the LA enforced business sectors. Improvement was however apparent in the safety management systems of the businesses participating in LAPS. Trust between LA inspector and safety professional was key to the success of the partnerships as was the commitment of these key individuals. Competition for precious LA resources, the priority afforded to food safety over health and safety, the perceived high resource demands of LAPS, and the structure and culture of LAs were identified as significant barriers to LA participation. Flexible approaches, whilst addressing the resource issues, introduced some fresh concerns relating to credibility and delivery. Over and above the stated aims of the scheme, LAs and businesses had their own reasons for participation, notably the personal development of individuals and kudos for the organisation. The research has explored the wider implications for partnership working with the overall conclusion it is most appropriately seen as a strategic level element within a broader structured intervention strategy.

Multiple component patient safety intervention in English hospitals:controlled evaluation of second phase

Objective: To independently evaluate the impact of the second phase of the Health Foundation's Safer Patients Initiative (SPI2) on a range of patient safety measures. Design: A controlled before and after design. Five substudies: survey of staff attitudes; review of case notes from high risk (respiratory) patients in medical wards; review of case notes from surgical patients; indirect evaluation of hand hygiene by measuring hospital use of handwashing materials; measurement of outcomes (adverse events, mortality among high risk patients admitted to medical wards, patients' satisfaction, mortality in intensive care, rates of hospital acquired infection). Setting: NHS hospitals in England. Participants: Nine hospitals participating in SPI2 and nine matched control hospitals. Intervention The SPI2 intervention was similar to the SPI1, with somewhat modified goals, a slightly longer intervention period, and a smaller budget per hospital. Results: One of the scores (organisational climate) showed a significant (P=0.009) difference in rate of change over time, which favoured the control hospitals, though the difference was only 0.07 points on a five point scale. Results of the explicit case note reviews of high risk medical patients showed that certain practices improved over time in both control and SPI2 hospitals (and none deteriorated), but there were no significant differences between control and SPI2 hospitals. Monitoring of vital signs improved across control and SPI2 sites. This temporal effect was significant for monitoring the respiratory rate at both the six hour (adjusted odds ratio 2.1, 99% confidence interval 1.0 to 4.3; P=0.010) and 12 hour (2.4, 1.1 to 5.0; P=0.002) periods after admission. There was no significant effect of SPI for any of the measures of vital signs. Use of a recommended system for scoring the severity of pneumonia improved from 1.9% (1/52) to 21.4% (12/56) of control and from 2.0% (1/50) to 41.7% (25/60) of SPI2 patients. This temporal change was significant (7.3, 1.4 to 37.7; P=0.002), but the difference in difference was not significant (2.1, 0.4 to 11.1; P=0.236). There were no notable or significant changes in the pattern of prescribing errors, either over time or between control and SPI2 hospitals. Two items of medical history taking (exercise tolerance and occupation) showed significant improvement over time, across both control and SPI2 hospitals, but no additional SPI2 effect. The holistic review showed no significant changes in error rates either over time or between control and SPI2 hospitals. The explicit case note review of perioperative care showed that adherence rates for two of the four perioperative standards targeted by SPI2 were already good at baseline, exceeding 94% for antibiotic prophylaxis and 98% for deep vein thrombosis prophylaxis. Intraoperative monitoring of temperature improved over time in both groups, but this was not significant (1.8, 0.4 to 7.6; P=0.279), and there were no additional effects of SPI2. A dramatic rise in consumption of soap and alcohol hand rub was similar in control and SPI2 hospitals (P=0.760 and P=0.889, respectively), as was the corresponding decrease in rates of Clostridium difficile and meticillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus infection (P=0.652 and P=0.693, respectively). Mortality rates of medical patients included in the case note reviews in control hospitals increased from 17.3% (42/243) to 21.4% (24/112), while in SPI2 hospitals they fell from 10.3% (24/233) to 6.1% (7/114) (P=0.043). Fewer than 8% of deaths were classed as avoidable; changes in proportions could not explain the divergence of overall death rates between control and SPI2 hospitals. There was no significant difference in the rate of change in mortality in intensive care. Patients' satisfaction improved in both control and SPI2 hospitals on all dimensions, but again there were no significant changes between the two groups of hospitals. Conclusions: Many aspects of care are already good or improving across the NHS in England, suggesting considerable improvements in quality across the board. These improvements are probably due to contemporaneous policy activities relating to patient safety, including those with features similar to the SPI, and the emergence of professional consensus on some clinical processes. This phenomenon might have attenuated the incremental effect of the SPI, making it difficult to detect. Alternatively, the full impact of the SPI might be observable only in the longer term. The conclusion of this study could have been different if concurrent controls had not been used.

Testing the assertion that 'local food is best':the challenges of an evidence-based approach

Advocates of ‘local food’ claim it serves to reduce food miles and greenhouse gas emissions, improve food safety and quality, strengthen local economies and enhance social capital. We critically review the philosophical and scientific rationale for this assertion, and consider whether conventional scientific approaches can help resolve the debate. We conclude that food miles are a poor indicator of the environmental and ethical impacts of food production. Only through combining spatially explicit life cycle assessment with analysis of social issues can the benefits of local food be assessed. This type of analysis is currently lacking for nearly all food chains.

Neurophysiological investigations for the diagnosis of non-epileptic attack disorder in neuropsychiatry services:from safety standards to improved effectiveness

OBJECTIVE: The discipline of clinical neuropsychiatry currently provides specialised services for a number of conditions that cross the traditional boundaries of neurology and psychiatry, including non-epileptic attack disorder. Neurophysiological investigations have an important role within neuropsychiatry services, with video-electroencephalography (EEG) telemetry being the gold standard investigation for the differential diagnosis between epileptic seizures and non-epileptic attacks. This article reviews existing evidence on best practices for neurophysiology investigations, with focus on safety measures for video-EEG telemetry. METHODS: We conducted a systematic literature review using the PubMed database in order to identify the scientific literature on the best practices when using neurophysiological investigations in patients with suspected epileptic seizures or non-epileptic attacks. RESULTS: Specific measures need to be implemented for video-EEG telemetry to be safely and effectively carried out by neuropsychiatry services. A confirmed diagnosis of non-epileptic attack disorder following video-EEG telemetry carried out within neuropsychiatry units has the inherent advantage of allowing diagnosis communication and implementation of treatment strategies in a timely fashion, potentially improving clinical outcomes and cost-effectiveness significantly. CONCLUSION: The identified recommendations set the stage for the development of standardised guidelines to enable neuropsychiatry services to implement streamlined and evidence-based care pathways.

Food SMEs’ innovation profile – the Hungarian case

The small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Hungarian agri-food sector play determining role. The innovation capacity (efforts, activities and results) however of the individual SMEs is very limited. Food production (including SMEs) has to fulfil food safety requirements in a rapidly increasing extent, which implies a continuous innovation and development process from all market players. In Hungary the agri-food sector had to face a suddenly increased competition especially after the EU enlargement. Based on survey data this paper examines the efforts, activities and results in knowledge acquisition, utilisation, coordination and transfer in the Central Hungarian food SMEs. We have found (using ordered logistic regression) that R&D expenditures, achieved innovations, export/import orientation as well as the networking activity of the SMEs play significant role in market development.

Innovation across the food chain – the Hungarian case

The small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Hungarian agri-food sector play determining role. The innovation capacity (efforts, activities and results) however of the individual SMEs is very limited. Food production (including SMEs) has to fulfil food safety requirements in a rapidly increasing extent, which implies a continuous innovation and development process from all market players. In Hungary the agri-food chain had to face a suddenly increased competition especially after the EU enlargement. Based on survey data this paper examines the efforts, activities and results in knowledge acquisition, utilisation, coordination and transfer in the Central Hungarian food SMEs. We have found (using ordered logistic regression) that R&D expenditures, achieved innovations, export/import orientation as well as the networking activity of the SMEs play significant role in market development.

Safety habits promoted by Hispanic parents for school-aged and adolescent children

Accidents are the leading cause of death among children. Compliance with safety measures have been shown to reduce morbidity and mortality in children. However, Hispanic parents and children have not been adequately studied in the literature in regard to trauma and safety habits utilized. In this exploratory-descriptive study, a convenience sample of 48 Hispanic parents were questioned about their child's activities. The purpose was to determine what safety equipment was used during these activities and how often they were used. Responses to an English/Spanish questionnaire were summarized by frequencies and percentages. Findings suggested that these Hispanic children were at risk for injury due to a low percentage of children wearing the necessary protective equipment. Therefore, education must stress consistent use of safety equipment if injuries are to be prevented. ^

Solid Waste Disposal: Independent Food Service Practices

Solid waste disposal is a major concern today. This study seeks to identify the current practices and attitudes of managers of independent food services toward solid waste management and the characteristics of food services which were most likely to be involved with a solid waste management program