@Risk

Since 1993, at least 25 E. coli outbreaks have been traced to leafy green vegetables—primarily lettuce and spinach –and now researchers will be using RFID sensors to help determine why.

The three-year study is part of a larger project called “A Systems Approach to Minimize Escherichia coli O157:H7 Food Safety Hazards Associated with Fresh- and Fresh-Cut Leafy Greens,” and will be led by a group of scientists at California Polytechnic State University, funded by a $600,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Specifically, the researchers will investigate which temperature and humidity conditions favor the development of food-borne illness contamination in bagged spinach and lettuce.
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Could increased stress on farm animals translate into increased food safety risks?

A study published last month in the journal “Foodborne Pathogens and Disease” suggests that it can.

Marcos H. Rostagno, an animal scientist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), published the review titled, “Can Stress in Farm Animals Increase Food Safety Risk,” and he identified ways that animal stress may be related to the prevalence of foodborne pathogens today.

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Yesterday, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a comprehensive food-safety bill that could affect virtually every aspect of the nation’s food supply chain. The 159-page Food Safety Enhancement Act represents the first major changes to food safety laws in 70 years and would significantly boost the Food and Drug Administration’s authority to regulate how food is grown, harvested, and processed.

The Senate is expected to vote on its version of food-safety legislation this fall.

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The editorial “Say No to Raw Cookie Dough,” in Monday’s New York Times, urges Congress to act quickly and approve a bill that would strengthen the Food and Drug Administration’s powers, giving them both more money and more authority, including new clout to recall products and more easily review food safety records or consumer complaints. But –after the string of recent problems with tainted tomatoes, peanuts, pistachios, pot pies, beef, and now cookie dough –will the infusion of power and more than $1B contained in the Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009 be enough to overcome consumer skepticism?

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The recall of Nestle Toll House refrigerated cookie dough last Friday underscored two important points regarding the safety of the nation’s food supply and the complexity of supply chain risk management. First, it appears that no one food is more, or less, risky than another. Second, consumers often don’t, or can’t, follow the food safety instructions found on the packaging label.

Nestle USA issued the recall late last week after health officials linked the cookie dough to a national outbreak of illness from the bacteria E.coli 0157. As many as 65 people in 29 states have been sickened. 25 have been hospitalized. But, what’s truly puzzling investigators here is that E.coli 0157 lives in the intestines of cattle –meaning that outbreaks are typically associated with contaminated meat. How could this particular bacteria, E.coli 0157, have ended up in refrigerated cookie dough? (more…)