Feds Unveil New Food Safety Web Site

New site features latest government food safety and recall information

By James Limbach, ConsumerAffairs.com

The government has a new food safety Web site for consumers up and running.

Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack say the site, www.foodsafety.gov, is designed to help families get all the latest information on food safety and recalls in one convenient place.

The new site will feature information from all the agencies across the federal government that deal with critical food and food safety information, including preventive tips about how to handle food safely, alerts on life-saving food recalls, and the latest news from the key agencies.

Consumers can sign up in one easy place to receive email and RSS alerts on recalled or potentially unsafe food and hear from the top scientific experts across the government on food safety. Later phases of the site to be launched will include recall feeds for texting and mobile phones.

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~Sandy G.

FDA Conducting Safety Review Of Weight Loss Drug

Review includes both prescription drug Xenical and OTC drug Alli

By James Limbach, ConsumerAffairs.com

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is reviewing adverse event reports of liver injury in patients taking the weight loss drugs Xenical and Alli, also known as orlistat.

Between 1999 and 2008, the FDA received 32 reports of serious liver injury in patients taking orlistat. Of those cases, 27 reported hospitalization and six resulted in liver failure. Thirty of the adverse events occurred outside the United States. The most commonly reported adverse events included yellowing of the skin or whites of the eyes (jaundice), weakness, and stomach pain.

ConsumerAffairs.com has received two reports of adverse effects of the drug.

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~Sandy G.

Feds Announce New Food Safety Strategies

Steps outlined for leafy greens, tomatoes, melons and ground beef

By James Limbach, ConsumerAffairs.com

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack have announced new strategies designed to safeguard the food Americans eat every day.

Three draft guidances prepared by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), an agency within HHS, are aimed at minimizing or eliminating contamination in leafy greens, tomatoes, and melons that can cause foodborne illnesses.

"These proposed controls provide a guide for growers and processors to follow so they may better protect their produce from becoming contaminated," Sebelius told a group of growers, consumers, businesses, food safety advocates, and others gathered at the Eastern Market, a public fresh-food market in Washington, D.C.

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~Sandy G.

Tablet Splitting: A Risky Practice

Consumers could run into a variety of problems

By James Limbach, ConsumerAffairs.com

Some pharmacists have reported that patients have changed the way they take medications because of the downturn in the economy, according to a recent survey by the American Pharmacists Association. This includes skipping doses and splitting tablets in an effort to save money.

Regarding the practice of splitting tablets, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the American Medical Association, and other medical organizations advise against it unless it's specified in the drug's labeling.

Tablet splitting often involves buying higher strength tablets and then breaking the tablets in half or quarter doses as a way to lower drug costs. For instance, a 30 mg tablet may cost the same amount as the 15 mg tablet. So a patient may try to save money by buying the 30 mg tablets and splitting them all in half. This might seem like a smart money-saving strategy, but the practice can be risky.

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~Sandy G.