Posts Tagged ‘E.coli’
Posted on Monday, August 20th, 2012 by Michele Simon
Rarely does the mainstream media bother to connect the dots when it comes to our broken food safety system. Consider these two recent headlines:
• Foodborne Outbreaks Falling Short of U.S. Reduction Goals
• USDA to purchase $170 million worth of meat to help farmers struggling with drought
The latter story celebrating government action to “help farmers” — prompted by this U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) press release — was trumpeted by major media outlets across the nation without any questions raised. Of course American farmers need help during times of drought and that effort is well worth supporting, but is the indiscriminate buying up of meat really the best and only idea the feds can come up with? Read rest at Center for Food Safety…
Postscript: Since writing this article, the federal government reported that two people have died and 141 were made sick by salmonella in yet another cantaloupe outbreak, this one in 20 states.
Posted in Big Food, Public Health | Tagged: E.coli, Food Safety Modernization Act, foodborne illness, listeria, Microbiological Data Program, Salmonella, USDA | View/Add Comments (0) |
Posted on Friday, July 13th, 2012 by Michele Simon
The United Fresh Produce Association Foundation says it’s “proud to be a Founding Partner of the Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools Initiative.” I thought the First Lady should know this trade group is responsible for killing a vital produce testing program that helps keep kids safe from infection.
Dear Mrs. Obama,
I am writing out of deep concern over Let’s Move’s partnerships with the United Fresh Produce Association and the Produce Marketing Association. These two groups have lobbied to kill a vital pathogen testing program. While the Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools program is to be applauded, its association with these trade groups is not.
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Posted in Big Food | Tagged: E.coli, FDA, foodborne illness, Let's Move, listeria, Microbiological Data Program, Obama, Salmonella, United Fresh Produce Association | View/Add Comments (3) |
Posted on Wednesday, June 6th, 2012 by Michele Simon
After years of debating, petitioning, rule-making, and outright stalling, this week the federal government is finally implementing new requirements for testing E. coli in ground beef. Why is this cause for celebration?
Read rest at Center for Food Safety…
Posted in Big Food, Public Health | Tagged: E.coli, food safety, Food Safety News, foodborne illness, USDA | View/Add Comments (0) |
Posted on Wednesday, March 14th, 2012 by Michele Simon
This past week, the media woke up to the shocking reality that our meat supply is in fact industrialized. Long gone are the days of your friendly local butcher grinding meat for your kids’ hamburgers. Taking its place is a corporate behemoth you probably never heard of called Beef Products Inc.
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Posted in Big Food, Child Nutrition, Public Health | Tagged: Beef Products Inc., E.coli, Food Integrity Campaign, Government Accountability Project, pink slime, USDA | View/Add Comments (15) |
Posted on Friday, February 24th, 2012 by Michele Simon
You’ve probably never heard of the Microbiological Data Program (MDP) but if you eat fresh produce, you should, because it’s currently on President Obama’s budgetary chopping block. The MDP is a small ($5 million annually) pathogen monitoring program tucked away in the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It tests fruits and vegetables for deadly bugs like E. coli, salmonella, and listeria.
Read rest at Center for Food Safety…
Posted in Public Health | Tagged: E.coli, food industry lobbyists, listeria, Microbiological Data Program, Obama, Salmonella, United Fresh Produce Association | View/Add Comments (0) |
Posted on Thursday, June 30th, 2011 by Michele Simon
In the wake of the horrible E. coli outbreak in Germany, many food safety advocates are
calling on the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to get off the dime and expand required beef testing to strains beyond the standard 0157:H7. According to the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) approximately 160,000 people in the United States are sickened each year by non-O157 E. coli. Six serotypes, known as the “Big Six” (E. coli O26, O45, O103, O111, O121, and O145) are currently under scrutiny. Far from being a new issue, the evidence for why we need expanded testing has been available for at least 20 years, maybe even 30. According to the
petition filed against USDA by the law firm Marler Clark
, as early as the 1980s, non-0157 strains were first identified globally. The first outbreaks were reported in the U.S. in the 1990s. What has happened since? Quite a lot, but little of which can be called progress.
Posted in Big Food, Public Health | Tagged: E.coli, food safety, meat industry | View/Add Comments (0) |
Posted on Wednesday, June 8th, 2011 by Michele Simon
Thanks to Food Safety News for allowing me to cross-post my articles; here is my first.
In the midst of what has tragically become the deadliest E. coli outbreak in history, serious questions are being raised about the need to step up testing here to protect the American public from a similar calamity. Food safety experts and consumer groups have for several years now recommended that USDA require testing in ground beef beyond the most commonly tested E. coli strain, 0157:H7.
As recently reported by Food Safety News, the USDA has at last drafted a notice of rulemaking (how agencies promulgate laws) to expand the definition of “adulterant” to include 6 non-0157:H7 STECs (Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli), which would force industry to test for these other strains. But now the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) appears to be holding things up.
The question is, why?
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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: E.coli, Food Safety News, meat industry, USDA | View/Add Comments (0) |
Posted on Monday, May 9th, 2011 by Michele Simon
For most of us working in food policy, it’s hard to remember a time when food outbreaks of bugs like E. coli didn’t happen pretty much weekly. But reading the new book Poisoned by Jeff Benedict made me realize that bacteria-contaminated hamburgers are a relatively recent phenomenon; a striking reminder of how our food system has gone very, very wrong.
Given that the Jack in the Box E. coli outbreak happened back in 1993, it seems odd that no one has written a book about it before. But it’s just as well, because Benedict’s style is tailor made to the task. His detailed and heart-wrenching story-telling makes the 18-year wait well worthwhile.
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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: E.coli, fast food, food safety | View/Add Comments (1) |
