House Calls for Closer Watch on Food Supply

Source: Washington Post

House Calls for Closer Watch on Food Supply

By Lyndsey Layton
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, May 28, 2009
The nation's complex food supply chain would become more transparent, inspections of food facilities would become more frequent and manufacturers would be required to take steps aimed at preventing food-borne illnesses under legislation proposed yesterday by key House leaders who have pledged to modernize the food safety system.

The bill, introduced by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) and Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.), would give the Food and Drug Administration broad new enforcement tools, including the authority to recall tainted food, the ability to "quarantine" suspect food, and the power to impose civil penalties and increased criminal sanctions on violators.

Among other things, the proposal would put greater responsibility on growers, manufacturers and food handlers by requiring them to identify contamination risks, document the steps they take to prevent them and provide those records to federal regulators. The legislation also would allow the FDA to require private laboratories used by food manufacturers to report the detection of pathogens in food products directly to the government.

"This is a major step forward," said Erik Olson, director of food and consumer product safety at the Pew Charitable Trusts. "This has really been needed for decades. We're still operating under a food and drug law signed by Teddy Roosevelt."

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/27/AR2009052703234.html

Salmonella in raw meat poses a risk to humans from undercooking or careless food handling. Each year, at least 40,000 people in the United States get sick and 500 die from the bacteria in food. Some strains resist treatment with antibiotics.

On average, the bacteria is detected in about 20 percent of samples in U.S. ground turkey plants. It is the only turkey meat tested by regulators. Plants fail if 55 percent of samples are positive.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service in February warned that salmonella in chicken meat had been increasing. The agency also announced a comprehensive plan to reduce levels in poultry plants. Ground turkey generally has had higher rates of the pathogen than chicken.

:puke:

Year after year, these bills are proposed (particularly for recall authority). And year after year, nothing happens, and all is forgotten until the next emergency.

Wake me when it actually makes it out of committee and on the floor for debate and a vote.

Every time it looks like it has some life, the big commodity and food processing companies water it down to where it's ineffective or kill it altogether.