According to press reports, an FDA requested panel says food safety in particular is in crisis. (Full Report) Questions about the FDA’s effectiveness have been underscored by alarming headlines in recent years — including E. coli in spinach, deadly chemicals in pet foods, toxic toothpaste and the heart-damaging side effects of drugs. The report says
Topps – Lessons America Forgot from Upton Sinclair’s “Jungle”
In October Topps Meat Company, founded in 1940, went out of business. That was after Topps had recalled nearly 22 million pounds of frozen hamburger contaminated with E. coli and 40 people across the U.S. had become ill.
Tort deformers decried the “tragedy” that is this Topps’ collapse – that a business went under
USDA – you must be kidding – No test and hold?
Robert Roos, CIDRAP News Editor caught the USDA ones again saying that it is interested in public safety, but when no one is looking changes the rules. Mr. Roos’ article entitled, “USDA modifies E. coli testing rules for Canadian beef,” is frankly shocking. According to the story, the “USDA has modified its program
E. coli quote of the day
.jpg)
Late last night Christopher Doering of Reuters quoted USDA/FSIS head guy, U.S. Agriculture Undersecretary Richard Raymond, in an article entitled – USDA says has enough legal authority to do recalls – Dr. Raymond testified that the U.S. Agriculture Department does not need additional authority to conduct meat recalls and would oppose any move to make
I guess I do not speak Canadian
.gif)
I’m a bit confused. Yesterday it was reported that Ranchers Beef Ltd (now out of business) was both the source of an E. coli outbreak in the United States that had sickened at least 40 tied to the consumption of Topps Meat (also out of business) AND 44 ill persons and 1 death in Canada.
Raw grinding halted at N.J. plant tied to E. coli – Up to 25 sickened in Connecticut, Florida, Indiana, Maine, New Jersey, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania
MSNBC and AP reports:
USDA finds that Topps’ plant has inadequate safety measures
Federal inspectors said Friday that they suspended the grinding of raw products at the Topps Meat Co. after finding inadequate safety measures at the plant, which is being investigated because of E. coli bacteria-tainted hamburgers that may have sickened 25 people. U.S.
USDA withheld information from state in E. coli investigation
According to FREDERIC J. FROMMER of the Associated Press, Federal officials refused to tell Minnesota authorities which of two beef plants were linked to a fatal E. coli outbreak last summer, according to a state report. One woman died and at least 17 people were sickened from the E. coli outbreak in the Longville
Food Safety Attorney, William Marler, Speaks Out On Mad Cow
We as Americans have grown up believing that our food supply is the safest in the world. But the CDC estimates that over 300,000 people are hospitalized and over 5,000 die, just from eating food contaminated with a pathogen. In recent years, E. coli outbreaks have been linked to not just ground beef, but also
Irradiating Foods – One More Step to Preventing Illness in Our Schools
A piece of legislation called the California Safe Schools Lunch Act (AB 1988) was recently passed by the State Assembly and now awaits action by the State Senate. Unfortunately, its positive-sounding title might not satisfy the State’s own truth-in-labeling laws. The Bill’s passage and the passage of similar laws around the country could put school children at greater risk, not less, from the dangers of foodborne illness.
As originally drafted, the Bill restricted the State’s Department of Education from ordering irradiated ground beef from the USDA’s National School Lunch Program, an option that school districts have available for the first time in 2004. In its present form, it makes this additional food safety measure more difficult and expensive, at a time local school districts are financially strained. In some cities, like San Francisco, Berkeley and Washington, DC, local school boards have succumbed to pressure from irradiation opponents and voted outright bans on serving irradiated foods in cafeterias.
The problem is this: an estimated 73,000 people, many children, get E. coli infection every year and 61 die from it. The GAO found that between 1990 and 1999, 195 outbreaks of foodborne illnesses occurred in our schools, sickening thousands of children. I currently represent children who were made ill with E. coli O157:H7 infections after eating contaminated lettuce served at Eastern Washington University, a school in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, and schools in San Diego and Orange Counties. In the past, I represented children made ill after eating contaminated ground beef in Washington state and Georgia. The list goes on, and E. coli is not the only pathogen making our children sick.Continue Reading Irradiating Foods – One More Step to Preventing Illness in Our Schools