The man who authors The Perishable Pundit blog warns in this article that food safety legislation currently pending in Congress that would give the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) mandatory recall authority fails to address the issues that could have a real impact on addressing the problem of food contamination. He argues that absolute food safety is an unattainable goal given the vagaries of nature and the extreme and costly measures that producers would have to undertake to stop pathogens from entering the system. He sets forth a six-point plan to improve the government’s approach to food safety: (i) “Switch to a Negligence Standard from a Strict Liability Standard, and Switch Primary Liability to the Trade Buyer”—Prevor claims this would give producers the incentive to invest in best practices and force buyers, with “a whole new interest in food safety,” a reason to pay more for the safest products; (ii)…
Tag Archives food safety
The Institute of Medicine (IOM) has issued a June 2010 report claiming that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) “continues to be reactive, lacking a systematic focus on prevention.” According to a June 8, 2010, press release, IOM has advised FDA to adopt a “risk-based model” that involves increased coordination “with state and other federal agencies that share responsibility for protecting the nation’s food supply.” The institute has also called on Congress to amend the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act “to explicitly provide the authority FDA needs to fulfill its food safety mission.” Enhancing Food Safety: The Role of the Food and Drug Administration apparently provides a blueprint for overhauling FDA, which IOM criticized in a report brief for continuing to address problems “on a case-by-case basis.” Its recommendations include integrating food safety programs and public education, enhancing the efficiency of the inspection process, and modernizing legislation in an effort…
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) this week released a report assessing Food and Drug Administration (FDA) efforts to address “serious deficiencies” in its food safety research. After a recent survey indicated that only 36 percent of FDA managers felt the agency “was making great progress in keeping pace with scientific advances,” GAO began investigating the ways in which “FDA may use science to more effectively support its regulatory work and to inform the public about food content and safety.” To this end, the report examines FDA’s “(1) progress in addressing selected recommendations identified by the Science Board; (2) incorporation of scientific and risk analysis into its oversight of the accuracy of food labeling, fresh produce, and the safety of dietary supplements; and (3) a new computer screening tool that may improve its efforts to screen imports using a risk-based approach.” It specifically notes the creation of the Office of the…
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued draft industry guidance in a question-and-answer format that provides information about complying with the reportable food registry requirements of a 2007 law. The purpose of the registry is to provide a “reliable mechanism to track patterns of adulteration in food [which] would support efforts by the Food and Drug Administration to target limited inspection resources to protect the public health.” The draft guidance is a second edition, updated to provide information about a new federal safety reporting portal. FDA requests public comments by July 26, 2010. The agency is particularly interested in comments addressing the meaning of the word “transfer” which is used in the context of an exemption from the requirement that “a responsible party submit a reportable food report.” For the exemption to apply, “the adulteration must have originated with the responsible party, the responsible party must have detected the…
The Pew Charitable Trusts’ Produce Safety Project (PSP) at Georgetown University has issued a report that calls for a “unified, cross agency” approach to tracking foodborne pathogens in humans, animals, food, and feed. Titled Building the Foundations of a Modern Food Safety System, the report charges the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) with summarizing “surveillance data on human foodborne illnesses—including outbreaks and sporadic cases—and on pathogen contamination in domestic and imported animals, food and feed.” PSP apparently based its recommendations on “extensive research and interviews” with food safety authorities in Denmark, The Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, according to a May 10, 2010, press release. The group has urged U.S. regulators to learn from steps taken by these countries to reform their food safety data collection and analysis since the 1990s. In addition, the report provides specific…
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) under the Sanitary Food Transportation Act of 2005 that establishes guidance on reducing the risk of food contamination during transport. The ANPRM is the first step in creating new federal regulations to govern sanitary practices by shippers, carriers by motor or rail vehicles, receivers, and others engaged in the transportation of food products for human and animal consumption. FDA has requested input from the food and transportation industries, consumer organizations and other parties on topics, including (i) whether and how information is shared among those involved, (ii) whether trucks used for transporting food should also be used for “nonfood products,” (iii) what reasons might waive “any and all” foreseeable rules intended to prevent contamination, and (iv) data on the risk of foodborne illness associated with the transportation of food. After evaluating responses to the notice,…
The Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee held a hearing on May 6, 2010, to consider food safety reports prepared by the Government and Accountability Office (GAO) and the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Both the GAO report and testimony from an Inspector General administrator focused on Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other agency weaknesses in ensuring that imported foods are safe and domestic food facilities are subject to meaningful inspection in terms of frequency and breadth. According to Subcommittee Chair Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), the hearing marked the 12th conducted since January 2007 to consider food contamination issues. He concluded his remarks by stating, “We are fortunate that today’s hearing was prompted by the HHS and GAO reports rather than another widespread food contamination outbreak like we saw with spinach in 2007, peppers in 2008 and peanut butter…
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Office of Inspector General (IG) has released a report, which finds that the federal government’s “national residue program is not accomplishing its mission of monitoring the food supply for harmful residues” of veterinary drugs, pesticides and heavy metals. According to the report, federal agencies have failed to establish thresholds for “dangerous substances” such as copper or dioxin, an omission that “has resulted in meat with these substances being distributed in commerce.” The IG also found that USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), which is responsible for the national residue program, “does not attempt to recall meat, even when its tests have confirmed the presence of veterinary drugs.” Among other matters, the report calls for (i) better coordination among FSIS, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Food and Drug Administration; (ii) an expansion of the substances these agencies test for; (iii) improvements to the…
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has issued a proposed rule designed to enhance the safety of meat and poultry products. The proposal would require that regulated establishments (i) promptly notify FSIS if any unsafe, unwholesome or “misbranded meat or poultry product has entered commerce”; (ii) “prepare and maintain current procedures for the recall of meat and poultry products produced and shipped by the establishment”; and (iii) “document each reassessment of the establishment’s process control plans, that is, its Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point plans.” According to a March 25, 2010, Federal Register notice, the proposed rule is needed because (i) “FSIS believes that prompt notification that adulterated or misbranded product has entered commerce is an important prerequisite for effective action to prevent such product from causing harm”; (ii) “having established procedures will help establishments to conduct effective and efficient recalls, should it be…
During a U.S. Department of Agriculture-sponsored food safety education conference in Atlanta this week, government, industry and academic speakers addressed a range of issues, including the causes of food borne illness, data collection and analysis, consumer behavior, food recalls, and foodservice workforce training. Caroline Smith DeWaal, food safety director with the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), spoke during the March 23-26, 2010, event to explain that nearly half the states do a poor job of tracking outbreaks. Contending that better local and state reporting of foodborne illness outbreaks could hasten life-saving food recalls, Smith DeWaal apparently called for support of the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, currently pending in the Senate, which would require the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to improve the coordination of federal, state and local surveillance systems. The measure, already approved in the House, would also reportedly establish a national testing-laboratory network, improve the…
