Dr. Douglas Powell, associate food safety professor at Kansas State University, posted yesterday on www.barfblog.com about the recent announcement by the Dept of Ag and the FDA regarding their plans to increase testing of beef trim for E. coli O157:H7 (why are other shiga-toxin producing strains of E. coli not per se adulterants?)
Food Safety Enhancement Act HR 2749 Passes on Second Try, Consumer Advocates Relieved
Consumer advocates breathed a sigh of relief today as the House took a major step towards FDA reform by passing H.R. 2749, The Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009.
After the provision fell just short of the supermajority needed under a suspension of the rules yesterday, the bill passed easily (283-142) under a closed rule.
Consumer Advocates Frustrated by Defeat of HR 2749, Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009
Today’s failed attempt at comprehensive food safety reform left consumer advocates deeply disappointed, but ready to resume the fight.
Many in the food safety community expected to have the votes to pass HR 2749, a bipartisan measure that unanimously passed out of committee in June, but the measure fell just short of the supermajority
Back to the Future: Obama Recycling Clinton-Era Food Safety Initiatives as New
At 10:30 AM today, Agriculture Secretary Vilsack, HHS Secretary Sebelius, and Vice-President Biden will issue “key finding,” according to an email from Nick Shapiro, Office of the Press Secretary, in The White House, that was sent to several media outlets. According to press release, entitled President’s Food Safety Working Group: Delivering Results, the Obama administration is going to implement “a new public health-focused approach to food safety based on three core principles: (1) prioritizing prevention; (2) strengthening surveillance and enforcement; and (3) improving response and recovery.” Although these principles are laudable, and anything would be an improvement over the Bush administration’s efforts to put industry profits above the public health, most of what is being announced today is recycled from Clinton years, and all are incremental steps that seek improvements around the edges rather than the much needed structural change to the U.S. food safety system.
What follows is a point-by-point commentary and critique of today’s announced policy changes and renewed initiatives. As I think you will see, there is not a lot radical going on here. (Please click on the Continue Reading link to read more.)Continue Reading Back to the Future: Obama Recycling Clinton-Era Food Safety Initiatives as New
Consumer Trust in Food Safety in the U.S. Plummets Because of Rise in Recalls
A little over two weeks ago, IBM released the results of a survey that it had conducted among adult grocery shoppers in the ten largest cities in the United States (100 in each city). The survey was intended to gather opinions about food safety issues, and what it found is as disappointing as it is not surprising. For example, less than 20% of consumers trust food companies to develop and sell food products that are self and healthy. Moreover, 60% of consumers are concerned about the safety of the food that they purchase. And the cause of this significant drop in trust? The rise in food recalls linked to contaminated and unsafe food products. According to the survey results, 83% of the people surveyed were able to name a food product that had been recalled in the last years, with nearly half (46%) naming peanut butter as a recently recalled product.
The irony here is that the rise in contamination-related recalls can be explained, in large part, by the drive for greater profits through: the use of cheaper ingredients purchased from suppliers willing to cut-corners (see, e.g. Peanut Corporation of America and its customer Kelloggs); the failure to update and maintain manufacturing facilities to ensure the highest standards of safety (see, e.g., Cargill and its peanut butter plant); insufficient product testing and quality control (see, e.g. Dole baged Spinach); and over-reliance on the consumer to cook the product "properly" as a means of making it safe, when it should have been safe to begin with (see, e.g., Banquet pot pies and Topps-brand and American Chef’s Selection brand frozen ground beef patties). But by putting profits above safety, food manufacturers are trading short term gains for long term losses. If consumers lose trust in manufactured food products, they will stop buying them. Look, for example, at peanut butter sales, which still have not recovered, and may never do so.
To read the full press release discussing the survey results, please click on Continue Reading.Continue Reading Consumer Trust in Food Safety in the U.S. Plummets Because of Rise in Recalls
An E. coli free 4th of July
There are a few key elements to having a good 4th of July. First, don’t shoot off your fireworks by hand. Second, illegal fireworks are fun, but they’re illegal for a reason, so see #1 if you’re planning to light any M 1000’s. Third, watch the Seattle fireworks from our offices, where you can simultaneously
Food Safety Enhancement Act Passes Committee
The Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009 passed out of Committee in the House today, without opposition. The full House is expected to vote on the bill before the July 4th recess.
According to an article in The Packer, the bill is receiving some lukewarm support -or at least, something less than all out
Fees Lowered as Food Safety Enhancement Act Moves Through House
As the "Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009" was passed out of the House subcommittee last week, the fees associated with production facility inspection were decreased. According to a story in the Packer:
The bill approved June 10 was revised from an earlier draft version, dropping user fees for inspections from $1,000 to $500
Food Safety Enforcement: How the Brits Do It.
This last Thursday, June 11, 2009, I had the pleasure (and honor) of presenting at the 2009 Conference on Law of Food and Drink, sponsored by the British Institute of International and Comparative Law. The program of presentations was interesting and, for me, quite informative. (For a look at the program, see here: www.biicl.org/files/4231_programme_11.06.pdf
Pork Producers Fight Against New Food Safety Bill
The National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) is waging a fight against food saftey refoms in the pending "Food Safety and Enhancement Act of 2009" according to Wisconsin Ag Connection. The bill was recently approved by in subcommittee and will head next to a full comittee in the House.
The NPPC claims to support efforts to