Food Can Be Dangerous Business

We are lucky in the U.S. to enjoy a plentiful and varied food supply that is generally considered safe. However the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) which is the investigative arm of Congress, reports that each year in the US, about 76 million people contract a food borne illness, about 325,000 require hospitalization and about 5,000 die from eating contaminated food. These numbers are way too high for the twenty-first century!

There are at least 15 regulation agencies, the two biggest being the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), which function to ensure that the food that reaches our tables is safe. However the regulation of food is a MESS. The government is reactionary when it comes to food safety, meaning that they respond to a food crisis when it occurs but do not have the ability to organize, plan and forecast outbreaks and stop them before they happen. This reactionary attitude has resulted in very a very fragmented system of food regulation.

The food safety system is further complicated by the subtle differences in food products which dictate which agency will regulate it. There is also the issue of the infrequency in which critical food safety inspections occur. For example, how a packaged ham-and-cheese sandwich is regulated depends on how the sandwich is presented.

Caution what you are about to read verges on the absurd.

The Ham and Cheese Sandwich:
The USDA inspects manufacturers of packaged, open- faced meat or poultry sandwiches (e.g., those with one slice of bread), but the FDA inspects manufacturers of packaged, closed-faced meat or poultry sandwiches (e.g., those with two slices of bread). Also, the USDA inspects wholesale manufacturers of open-face sandwiches sold in interstate commerce daily, while FDA inspects closed-face sandwiches an average of once every 5 years. All this difference for one slice of bread.

Another layer in the inadequacy of our country’s food safety system is funding, the majority of federal expenditures for food safety inspection are directed toward the USDA's programs for ensuring the safety of meat, poultry and egg products. However, the USDA is responsible for regulating only about 20 percent of the food supply. In contrast, the FDA, which is responsible for regulating about 80 percent of the food supply, accounts for only about 24 percent of federal expenditures for food safety inspections.

There has been a demand for a better food safety system for our country for years. Until one is implemented then, be sure that you cook foods thoroughly and practice safe food handling techniques whenever possible to avoid becoming one of the 76 million people who will contract a food borne illness this year.