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The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) hasn't met mandated targets for inspections of domestic and foreign food facilities since 2018. FDA officials, who have said they need more inspectors to meet their targets, haven't developed goals or measures to ensure its inspections are keeping the food supply safe, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said yesterday in a new report. The FDA is tasked with ensuring the safety of nearly 80% of the US food supply, including fruits, vegetables, processed foods, and most seafood.  (Van Beusekom, 1/9)

Over-the-counter protein powders may contain disturbing levels of lead and cadmium, with the highest amounts found in plant-based, organic and chocolate-flavored products, according to a new investigation. (LaMotte, 1/9)

Veterans diagnosed with several types of blood and urinary tract cancers who served in certain overseas locations during the Persian Gulf War and post-9/11 era now have a path to easily file claims with the Department of Veterans Affairs, according to an announcement Wednesday. The VA has finalized efforts to add acute and chronic leukemias; multiple myeloma and associated diseases; and bladder, ureter and similar cancers to the list of diseases presumed to be related to military service in the Middle East, parts of Africa, and South and Central Asia, including Afghanistan and Uzbekistan. (Kime, 1/9)

California's state veterinarian in a January 7 statement announced a ban on all poultry and cattle exhibitions until further notice as part of the state's efforts to curb the spread of H5N1 avian flu to people and to uninfected animals. ... In other developments, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) confirmed 4 more H5N1 detections in dairy cattle, 3 in California and apparently 1 in Michigan that the state first announced in October 2024. The new confirmations push the national total to 923 and California's total to 706. (Schnirring, 1/9)

The China Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC) today announced the country's first confirmed clade 1b mpox cases, which involve a foreigner who had lived in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and four close contacts. China is the twelfth country outside of Africa to detect clade 1 mpox, which is different from the clade 2 mpox virus spreading globally. The novel clade 1b virus is thought to spread more easily among contacts, including in households. Most cases have been linked to travel to affected African countries. Outside of Africa, limited secondary transmission has now been reported in the United Kingdom, Germany, and China. (Schnirring, 1/9)

A Wisconsin woman who at age 12 stabbed her sixth grade classmate nearly to death to please online horror character Slender Man will be released from a psychiatric hospital, a judge ordered Thursday after a trio of experts testified that she has made considerable progress battling mental illness. Morgan Geyser, now 22, has spent nearly seven years at the Winnebago Mental Health Institute. (Richmond, 1/9)

The family of late Tennessee Titans legend Frank Wycheck announced the tight end tested positive for chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) stage III. Wycheck died at 52 after falling at his home in Chattanooga, Tenn., in Dec. 2023. Researchers from Boston University’s CTE Center confirmed the stage III diagnosis for Wycheck (stage IV being the most severe). The family announced shortly after his death that it would work with experts for brain injury and CTE research. Wycheck retired from the NFL at age 32 after suffering several concussions in his career. (Holder and Rexrode, 1/9)