Food Safety Concerns

In many ways, the American food supply is safe, provides consumers with many choices, and is relatively inexpensive when compared to the rest of the world. But, there is an associated cost with an abundant and cheap food supply. Think of all the recalled food products in your lifetime and you can quickly name a few right off the bat: ground beef, spinach, peanut butter, and the recent nation-wide recall of a half billion eggs for possible salmonella contamination.

The food industry is facing huge risks in sustaining itself because of an increase in safety concerns. One would think food inspection should be an answer, but it is actually part of the problem. A recent New York Times article discusses that recent opposition has stalled the legislation of a new bill on food safety regulations. The Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009 aims to "establish the Food Safety Administration within the Department of Health and Human Services to protect health by preventing food -borne illness" (NY Times, 2010). It would give the FDA “more authority to recall products, require more frequent FDA inspections of food -processing plants and better recordkeeping by food companies for keeping food safe” (NY Times, 2010).

Consumer confidence has certainly declined from all these recalls and I would think after the recent egg recall, the bill would pass. Here are some statistics to think about:

· Roughly 76 million Americans suffer annually from food-borne illnesses each year

· Salmonella-tainted peanut products resulted in more than 700 illnesses, nine deaths and one of the largest product recalls in US history.

· Four years ago spinach, tainted with E. coli O157:H7, infected at least 204 people in 26 states.

· More than 23,000 tons of dry dog and cat pet foods from more than 100 different brands were recalled between 2006 and 2008.

In addition, there are enormous costs: The peanut butter recall cost peanut producers $1 billion in lost production and sales and the Kellogg Company alone lost $70 million because of the outbreak. One can also look at the alarming health costs. Health costs associated with food-borne illnesses totals $152 billion annually in the U.S. (Produce Safety Project, 2010) Keep in mind: Health care costs have been rising for several years as it is.

We need to focus on preventing contamination in the first place—before the food ends up in Americans’ cupboards and refrigerators. How many more recalls are we going to have to deal with until change is made for tighter regulation and more progress in the food safety industry? Hopefully sooner than later.

http://www.producesafetyproject.org/reports?id=0008

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/19/health/policy/19food.html