Food safety reform
Recent events could be conspiring to bring food safety reform closer.
Take a string of food borne illness outbreaks and product recalls, from the salmonella in peppers that sickened 407 last year and killed two, to salmonella in peanut products this year, which led to at least 691 illnesses and nine deaths. Add spinach, pistachios, and most recently alfalfa sprouts, and you have the recipe for some shocking statistics: About one in four Americans is sickened by food borne disease each year, 325,000 are hospitalized, and about 5,000 die. Since the early 90s, food borne illness outbreaks have more than tripled to nearly 350 a year.
The peanut product outbreak in particular led to a flurry of activity; legislation was proposed at both a state and federal level, including the bipartisan FDAFood Safety Modernization Act, and finally it sounded like everyone was speaking with one voice. All the main players were lined up asking for more or less the same things: FDA power to order mandatory recalls; more inspections; greater transparency from manufacturers.
The FDA’s lack of authority to issue recalls has often been cited as one of the department’s greatest weaknesses, forcing it to rely on the cooperation of food companies. It is hard to believe that anyone would refuse to withdraw a potentially deadly product with their company’s name on, but it happens. Where are we headed with food safety and what will it take to get the powers that be to make real progress toward safer food.
