In a bit of news that is less surprising than it should be, the AP today reports that the FDA has for the last several years failed to perform a large percentage of required audits for inspections being conducted (under contract) by the States. According to today’s report (based on documents recently released to Congress:
Giving New Meaning to the Term “Kill Step”
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Yesterday, the New York Times published an interesting, as well as disturbing, article on the continuing dangers of ConAgra frozen pot pies. Specifically, despite the 2007 outbreak and all the serious illnesses it caused, the safety of the pot pies still depend on the customer cooking them correctly. Apparently, the challenge of making the pot pies safe to eat, even if cooked to a temperature below what would constitute a "kill step," was simply too difficult. Here is how the NY Times described the decision:
The frozen pot pies that sickened an estimated 15,000 people with salmonella in 2007 left federal inspectors mystified. At first they suspected the turkey. Then they considered the peas, carrots and potatoes.
The pie maker, ConAgra Foods, began spot-checking the vegetables for pathogens, but could not find the culprit. It also tried cooking the vegetables at high temperatures, a strategy the industry calls a “kill step,” to wipe out any lingering microbes. But the vegetables turned to mush in the process.
So ConAgra — which sold more than 100 million pot pies last year under its popular Banquet label — decided to make the consumer responsible for the kill step. The “food safety” instructions and four-step diagram on the 69-cent pies offer this guidance: “Internal temperature needs to reach 165° F as measured by a food thermometer in several spots.”
For the full article, see www.nytimes.com/2009/05/15/business/15ingredients.html
But getting a frozen-hard pot-pie to reach a uniform temperature of 165 degrees is by no means an easy thing to accomplish, as the Times article amply demonstrates.
But attempts by The New York Times to follow the directions on several brands of frozen meals, including ConAgra’s Banquet pot pies, failed to achieve the required 165-degree temperature. Some spots in the pies heated to only 140 degrees even as parts of the crust were burnt.
A ConAgra consumer hotline operator said the claims by microwave-oven manufacturers about their wattage power could not be trusted, and that any pies not heated enough should not be eaten. “We definitely want it to reach that 165-degree temperature,” she said. “It’s a safety issue.”
A safety issue indeed. Because if that pot pie is contaminated with a deadly pathogen, and the cooking process does not essentially pasteurize the pot pie, then eating will could be the real "kill-step" here.
For additional discussion, please click Continue Reading.Continue Reading Giving New Meaning to the Term “Kill Step”
Recalls Found to be Even Less Effective Than Expected
There has for a long time been valid criticism of food recalls, both with regard to how agencies like the FDA implement them, and whether recalls really work to prevent foodborne illness. In my view, most recalls are best described as closing the barn-doors after the horses have escaped. But that said, when a food product is determined to be contaminated, there is no avoiding the need to try to remove the product from the market. That means recalls are necessary. It also means that recalls need to be effective as possible at limiting the spread of foodborne disease. According to a great and interesting new study out of Rutgers’ Food Policy Institute, it appears that recalls are anything but effective in prompting necessary public action. For example, in a survey of over 1,100, the study found that only about 60 percent of the studied sample reported ever having looked for recalled food in their homes, and only 10 percent said they had ever found a recalled food product.
This is a disturbing finding, because, unless we can reliably count on the public to take the actions necessary to prevent the spread of foodborne disease, we may be assuming that recalls work when, in fact, they do not. This study thus deserves to be read carefully by public health officials, and additional research definitely seems to be needed.
The full study can be found here: www.foodpolicyinstitute.org/docs/news/RR-0109-018.pdf
To read the full press release announcing the study, please hit the Continued Reading link.
Continue Reading Recalls Found to be Even Less Effective Than Expected
US Food Safety
As the year comes to a close, many publications are looking back on the year and assessing our nation’s food safety system. From the Wall Street Journal to USA Today and Reuters, everyone has something to say about the American food supply.
The Wall Street Journal focused today on the USDA and the number of
USDA, FDA critics heard
John Munsell, a former meat-processing facility owner, was recently interviewed by Meat & Poultry Magazine about what he learned while conducting interviews of industry players. While Munsell has been a critic of USDA meat inspection practices and policies, he is working for change through FARE, the Foundation for Accountability in Regulatory Enforcement. What he had
Our food safety system
USA Today published two articles about food safety for this weekend’s USA Today. In the first article, titled, "Report: FDA so underfunded, consumers are put at risk," Julie Schmidt reports on a report that was released by an advisory panel to the FDA which concludes:
The Subcommittee concluded that science at the FDA
Food Safety report due today
Today, the recommendations of an advisory committee which was formed to assess the safety of the nation’s food supply will issue a report to President Bush and Congress. An article that appeared last night on the New York Times website provided some insight into the reasons behind the formation of the committee and what will
FDA Implementing Initiative to Reduce Tomato-Related Foodborne Illnesses
FDA announced today that it was introducing a multi-year tomato safety initiative to reduce the number of foodborne illnesses traced to tomato consumption in the United States. The initiative comes on the heels of two Salmonella outbreaks traced to tomatoes last summer and fall.
In a press release announcing the initiative, FDA stated:
The initiative,
Who is responsible for food safety?
Newsinferno.com added a post titled, "CDC, FDA, ConAgra or Peter Pan himself, Who’s to Blame for the Underreporting of Sickening and Potentially Deadly Salmonella & E-Coli Food Poisoning Cases?" which offers an interesting discussion on foodborne illness outbreaks.
The federal agency responsible for insuring food safety was also been taken to task for
Making food safer
The USDA is expected to announce today whether 20 million chickens who were fed melamine-contaminated feed are to be released into the US food supply. Bloomberg News reported on USDA’s investigation and decision-making process:
The U.S. Department of Agriculture said it is keeping as many as 20 million chickens from slaughter this weekend as officials