@Risk

In an effort to safeguard the food supply and prevent foodborne illness, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced last week that six additional serogroups of pathogenic E. coli will be declared adulterants in non-intact raw beef.

Current regulations ban the sale of ground beef containing E. coli O157:H7, a virulent strain of bacteria that has caused death, illnesses and the recall of millions of pounds of ground beef and other products.

But, as a result this new action, the USDA will also ban the sale of ground beef containing any of a half-dozen additional E. coli strains –which are known as the “Big Six non-057s” and which can also cause severe illness and death.

“The impact of foodborne illness on a family can be devastating,” said Under Secretary Elisabeth Hagen. “Consumers deserve a modernized food safety system that focuses on prevention and protects them and their families from emerging threats. As non-O157 STEC bacteria have emerged and evolved, so too must our regulatory policies to protect the public health and ensure the safety of our food supply.”

The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) will begin testing for these six serogroups of STEC and enforcing the new policy on March 5, 2012.

Not everyone supports these new regulations.

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The National Consumers League (NCL) is urging the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to establish minimum sanitary and safety standards for the “unregulated but crucial” pallets that are used to transport food throughout the United States.

Why? Because for awhile now, there have been growing concerns about the link between pallets and contamination of food and pharmaceuticals, and recently the NCL tested pallets for foodborne pathogens, including E. coli and Listeria.

The results of these tests were alarming. Of the 140 pallets (70 wood and 70 plastic) tested: (more…)

A new study by a former U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) economist estimates that the total annual health-related costs of foodborne illness across the nation is $152 billion annually – four times that of earlier estimates calculated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

This total is based on an FDA cost-estimate approach: health-related costs are the sum of medical costs (physician services, pharmaceuticals, and hospital costs) and losses to quality of life (lost life expectancy, pain and suffering, and functional disability). It includes the costs of medical bills, lost wages and lost productivity. (Note: These are health-related costs only. An aggregate economic impact total that included losses to food manufacturers and distributors involved in recalls would be significantly higher.)
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On Wednesday, a Senate committee unanimously approved a sweeping overhaul of the Food and Drug Administration’s food safety system.

The proposed legislation is similar to the measure passed by the House this summer, as it significantly increases the FDA’s regulatory powers and allows the agency to directly order a food recall, rather than merely requesting that a food manufacturer institute one. In addition, the Senate version of the bill includes whistle-blower protections, unspecified grants to states to improve food safety programs, and requirements for organic agricultural standards and other factors to be included in government food safety rules.

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Last week, the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN) released a report from the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT), which recommends clear objectives be set to improve the ability of government and industry to trace food products throughout all stages of the supply chain.

As I have posted about before (see here and here, for example), food can become contaminated at any of the many different steps in the supply chain. Improved tracing could help: (more…)