With nearly 1,800 foodborne illnesses linked to recalls of food products from known pathogens such as Salmonella in less than two years, more needs to be done to protect America's food supply, according to a report released Wednesday by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (PIRG).
The recalled products from January 2011 through September 2012 also culminated in 37 deaths and $227 million in economic and health-related costs, the Boston-based consumer group disclosed after analyzing government data. One of the more prominent cases was that involving a 2011 outbreak linked to cantaloupes in Colorado, which spread across more than half the nation.
This year "has already seen nearly twice as many illnesses due to recalls as 2011, with high-profile recalls of cantaloupes and hundreds of thousands of jars of peanut butter," said Nasima Hossain, public health advocate for U.S. PIRG, in a statement. "More needs to be done to identify the contaminants that are making us sick and to protect Americans from the risk of unsafe food."
Signed into law nearly two years ago by President Obama, the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act reflects the most sweeping reforms of our food laws in decades. But many of the rules designed to carry out those safety reforms have been lingering at the White House's Office of Management and Budget.
"These delays on produce safeguards are especially concerning since fresh produce was linked to one third of all major outbreaks in 2011, as well as to very significant Salmonella outbreaks related to mangoes and cantaloupes in 2012," the report stated.
U.S. PIRG also blames another factor for ineffective implementation of the law. "The FDA is not being given adequate funding to do the job." Although President Obama's budget requested $4.5 billion for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), budget proposals in both chambers of Congress fell $600 million to $700 million short of that request, according to the report.
The consumer group has made a number of recommendations to limit the number of recalls. Among their suggestions:
· FDA should encourage local, foreign and state agencies to adopt U.S. food safety measures and standards.
· FDA should create concrete and specific safety standards to use for the inspection of food facilities.
· FDA should conduct more frequent and more unannounced inspections of high-risk food facilities.
· Federal agencies should more effectively coordinate to ensure food safety.
· More resources should be earmarked to investigate and monitor unspecified and unknown agents that are causing foodborne illness.
Forty eight million Americans get sick every year from contaminated food, the consumer group noted, costing more than $77 billion in aggregated economic costs.
“We need a food safety system that is fully funded and fully staffed so it can stop unsafe food from reaching our dinner tables," Hossain said. “We must move away from the current reactive approach, where recalls happen after dangerous products have already made it into families’ kitchens, and focus on prevention. The Food Safety Modernization Act should be fully implemented and the Administration should not waste any more time in strengthening our food safety systems."
