DeLauro Responds to Reports USDA Will Approve Horse Slaughter Facility

WASHINGTON, DC—Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) released the following statement today regarding reports the Department of Agriculture (USDA) will have to approve federal inspection at a horse slaughter facility in New Mexico. DeLauro, former chair of the subcommittee responsible for funding the USDA, authored a provision prohibiting federal funds for the inspection of such facilities in the United States. Upon taking over the House majority in 2011, Republicans ended that prohibition. “Congress needs to reinstate the provision I authored that would prohibit inspection of horse slaughter facilities in the United States. Beginning today, food inspection services by the USDA will suffer the same indiscriminate budget cuts as the rest of the federal government. The Administration has said they will have to furlough inspectors. The last thing we should be doing is adding additional inspection responsibilities. I looking forward to questioning USDA officials about this when they testify before the Appropriations Committee.”

Acclaimed Parisian Chef Daniel Rose Brings Spring to AnQi Restaurant inMay

Acclaimed Parisian Chef Daniel Rose Brings Spring

to AnQi Restaurant inMay  

Helene and Elizabeth An of House of An Restaurants to host

Friends of James Beard Benefit Dinner

(Costa Mesa, CA) – For one night only on May 1, Southern California gourmands and Orange County fashionistas will have an opportunity to experience one of the most sought-after restaurant reservations in Paris when AnQi Restaurant hosts a prestigious James Beard Benefit Dinner on May 1^st.   Chef Daniel Rose of the celebrated Paris restaurant Spring will be flying in from Paris and collaborating  with House of An’s Master Chef Helene An on the special five course tasting dinner.  This is Chef Rose’s first appearance in California, and he will be closing his restaurant in Paris to make the trip.
Rose’s approach to cuisine melds the tradition of classic French cuisine with a contemporary, personal approach to fresh market ingredients.  His restaurant Spring has been named “One of 10 of the Best Restaurants in Paris” by the Guardian, and “The Trophy Reservation” by Forbes Magazine.  Rose and Spring have been profiled in Elle, L’Express, Figaroscope, GQ, International Herald Tribune, New York Times, Travel + Leisure, Wall Street Journal and many others.   
Celebrity chef, restaurant owner, and caterer to the stars, Helene An, is known for her innovative use of Asian herbs and spices and her blending of Vietnamese and French cuisine with Western flavors.  She opened what is acknowledged as San Francisco’s first Vietnamese restaurant in 1971 and was dubbed the “Mother of Fusion Cuisine” by the San Francisco Chronicle when she opened Crustacean in 1991.
The dinner will be the first James Beard Foundation benefit dinner held in Orange County to feature a top Paris-based chef.  Proceeds will benefit the James Beard Foundation and will also fund a scholarship at Art Institute of Orange County’s International Culinary School.
For more information about the dinner and reservations, please call (714) 557-5679. For updates on the May 1^st Friends of James Beard benefit dinner, please visit https://www.facebook.com/anqibycrustacean.
About James Beard Foundation
Founded in 1986, the James Beard Foundation is dedicated to celebrating, nurturing, and preserving America's diverse culinary heritage and future. A cookbook author and teacher with an encyclopedic knowledge about food, James Beard, who died in 1985, was a champion of American cuisine. He helped educate and mentor generations of professional chefs and food enthusiasts, instilling in them the value of wholesome, healthful and delicious food. Today, the Beard Foundation continues in the same spirit by administering a number of diverse programs that include educational initiatives, food industry awards, scholarships to culinary schools, publications, chef advocacy training, thought-leader convening, and by maintaining the historic James Beard House in New York City’s Greenwich Village as a “performance space” for visiting chefs. In September of 2012, the Foundation launched the Diplomatic Culinary Partnership with the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Protocol and helped create the American Chef Corps as a way to champion American chefs abroad, promote American food products and foster an interest in American culinary culture and history through international programs and initiatives. For more information, please visit www.jamesbeard.org. Find insights on food at the James Beard Foundation’s blog Delights & Prejudices. Join the James Beard Foundation on Facebook. Follow the James Beard Foundation on Twitter.
About AnQi Restaurant
AnQi is a gourmet bistro and noodle bar located at South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa. Founded by Elizabeth An, CEO, House of An, the name “AnQi” is derived from the family name “An,” and the different translations of “Qi,” meaning tasty in Thai, flavorful in Korean, and energy in Chinese. Ms. Elizabeth An designed the restaurant and has received many awards, lauding the creative space and respect for green principles.  For more information visit www.anqibistro.com.

FDA Issues Environmental Assessment Report Following Outbreaks Linked to Cantaloupe

FDA Issues Environmental Assessment Report Following Outbreaks Linked to Cantaloupe

March 1, 2013

FDA has released its environmental assessment inspection report on the factors that potentially contributed to the contamination of fresh whole cantaloupe linked to a multi-state outbreak of salmonellosis in the summer of 2012. According to the report, the initial contamination of the cantaloupes likely occurred in the production fields and was most likely spread by operations and practices in the packinghouse. It is also likely that the contamination proliferated during storage and transport to market.
FDA recommends that fresh fruit and vegetable producers employ good agricultural and management practices recommended for the growing, harvesting, washing, sorting, packing, storing, and transporting of fruits and vegetables sold to consumers in an unprocessed or minimally processed raw form.
Recommended practices for fresh fruit and vegetable producers are set forth in FDA’s and USDA’s “Guidance for Industry: Guide to Minimize Microbial Food Safety Hazards for Fresh Fruits and Vegetables,” FDA’s “Guidance for Industry: Letter to Firms that Grow, Harvest, Sort, Pack, Process, or Ship Fresh Cantaloupe,” and FDA’s “Guidance for Industry: Guide to Minimize Microbial Food Safety Hazards of Melons; Draft Guidance.”
FDA’s Coordinated Outbreak Response and Evaluation Network (CORE) coordinated the environmental assessment as part of its three-pronged approach to detect, respond to, and prevent outbreaks of foodborne illness. CORE is made up of a signals-and-surveillance team, three response teams, and a post-response team.  The post-response team uses environmental assessment inspections to identify the factors potentially contributing to an outbreak.