Massachusetts Personal Injury Library
Food Safety Techniques Improve
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that it is developing mandatory standards for growing, harvesting, and processing fruits and vegetables.
More authority for the FDA
Also, the House of Representatives passed a bill that strengthens the authority of the FDA to oversee food safety by mandating more frequent inspections of food processing plants, according to the article.
Testing for E. coli
In addition, the Agriculture Department announced it would begin regular testing of fat that is trimmed from steaksand roasts at processing plants that is added to ground beef. This testing of the trim had not been done before. The bacterium E. coli has sometimes been found in ground beef in recent years and can cause fatal illness–according to the article, some people who specialize in food poisoning cases say that the trim has been suspected as a source of E. coli in many ground beef recalls. The new rules by the Agriculture Department apply to about 600 meat processing plants.
Guidelines for produce
The Times also said that the FDA issued voluntary guidelines for the growing and processing of tomatoes, leafy greens, and melons. These crops account for the most cases of illnesses from eating tainted produce. The guidelines are the beginning of a new system of mandatory regulations for the handling of fruits and vegetables. The FDA expects new standards and requirements for food safety at farms and processing plants to take about two years to complete.
These measures are occurring after the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a report that said the nation’s food supply system has not improved in safety for the past three years. And in some cases, food products like salmonella-tainted peanuts and pistachios seem to be increasing.
According to the CDC, 76 million people in the US suffer from foodborne illness each year, while 300,000 people are hospitalized, and 5,000 die from these infections. Unfortunately, children under age 4 are affected more than any other age group; although adults over age 50 suffer more hospitalizations and death from infections.
The Times also reported that the FDA will also have the power to order recalls of tainted food, as well as strengthening inspection requirements for imported foods, allowing inspectors to see processing plant records, and requiring processing plants to develop safety plans. The new legislation also directs the FDA to create a system to trace food products and ingredients to find the source of food-borne illnesses.
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