Center for Disease Control (CDC)
New beef E. coli O157:H7 regulations—Just kick the can further down the road?
(August 14, 2009) - In response to the principles developed by the White House Food Safety Working Group, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) jointly announced on July 31, 2009 that they were taking steps to increase the security of the US food supply (USDA News Release 0359-09).
DHHS announced that its Food and Drug Administration had issued draft guidelines “aimed at minimizing or eliminating contamination of leafy greens, tomatoes, and melons that can cause foodborne illnesses.”
“Agriculture Secretary Vilsack announced that the USDA’s Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) is issuing guidelines for inspectors to begin conducting routine sampling of bench trim for E. Coli. Bench trim is pieces left over from steaks and other cuts that are then used to make ground beef.” In this column we will be focusing on the new sampling of bench trim.
Food Safety Working Group
(July 31, 2009) - The July 21, 2009 romaine lettuce recall by Tanimura & Antle puts another exclamation point on the issue of food safety. The lettuce was being recalled because of a positive result for Salmonella on a random test conducted by the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture. As of Sunday, July 26, 2009, the recall had not been posted on the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) "2009 Recalls, Market Withdrawals, & Safety Alerts" website even though Tanimura & Antle posted it on their site on July 21.
When President Obama established the Food Safety Working Group in the White House, he said, "We are a nation built on the strength of individual initiative. But there are certain things that we can't do on our own. There are certain things that only a government can do. And one of those things is ensuring that the foods we eat...are safe and don't cause us harm."
CDC says pork is safe to eat
St. Paul (April 30 2009) - With the recent outbreak of the 2009 H1N1 flu virus, or swine virus, consumers are concerned about the safety of eating pork.
"People should not be afraid to buy pork, and to feed their family," said Doug Peterson, Minnesota Farmers Union President. "The Center for Disease Control says that the H1N1 virus cannot be contracted by eating pork, and that pork is safe. There are plenty of other precautions you can take to not get the virus, but staying away from eating pork is not one of them."
You can find out more information on the H1N1 virus by going to the CDC website, www.cdc.gov/swineflu/.
National Farmers Union President Roger Johnson stated, "At a time when independent hog producers are fighting against a consolidated marketplace, among other challenges, it is paramount accurate information be communicated. U.S. pork products are safe and consumers should continue to be confident in those products."
On leaving food inspection to the foxes
(February 11, 2009) - One of the weekly features broadcast by a local Knoxville, TN television station announces the names of the restaurants that achieved the highest scores on recent health department inspections, They also announce the names, scores, and reasons for those scores of the restaurants that were given the lowest scores by the health department. In addition, the law requires that all restaurants post the latest inspection reports in plain view of the eating public.
While our health department and others around the country have a system in place that makes the results of their inspections of restaurants that serve 100s of people available to the public, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has no such system in place for firms that serve hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people.
When the Georgia Agriculture Department, under contract from the FDA, found serious sanitation problems on one of their inspections of the Peanut Corporation of America facility-the one later found to be responsible for the recent Salmonella outbreak-the plant was not shut down and required to correct the deficiencies. In addition, no word went out to the purchasers of the product from that plant.