Foodborne Illness Puts Kids at Risk

Washington, DCAccording to a recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, there appears to be a severe disconnect in communicating foodborne illness recalls to US schools. Last year, almost 250 students contracted salmonellosis from schools that continued to serve contaminated food product days past the recall dates. If regulatory and investigative agencies such as the FDA had better notified the public, could these illnesses have been prevented?

Those students contracted food poisoning from Peanut Corporation of America's peanuts and peanut butter. The report suggested there was a miscommunication of manufacture dates in the 2008 national recall of its salmonella products, which sent about 46 students to hospital with serious salmonellosis complications. (Every year, 76 million Americans are sickened from consuming contaminated food and 5,000 of these people die; and foodborne illness outbreaks are increasing.)

The Sept. 22 report indicated the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has failed at times to provide "timely and complete notification about suspect food products provided to schools through the federal commodities program." and also reported the USDA "failed in recent years to provide complete information to schools about peanut products and canned vegetables that were at the time subject to a limited recall".

Although the government has promised more stringent rules regarding school lunch programs (on July 30th, the House passed the Food Safety Enhancement Act (H.R. 2749), critics say the focus should be on preventing school lunch outbreaks from ever occurring in the first place and concur there are widespread problems with the current food safety system—from lettuce and spinach to peanuts and Nestle cookie dough.
However, Bill H.R.2749 will give more power—and more funding—to FDA so it can better inspect food processing facilities, develop a better food trace-back system to pinpoint the source of food-borne illnesses, and step up measures to ensure that imported foods are safe. (According to an August 2009 report issued by USDA's Economic Research Service, about half the food borne illness outbreaks in the US in recent years have come from imported food products.)

And the Bill will also give the FDA access to the records of food producers and manufacturers during routine inspections. Currently, the agency must wait for food-borne illnesses to occur before accessing records: In last year's PCA peanut contamination, FDA was unable to access records that might have prevented the outbreak from occurring in the first place.

Meanwhile, the USDA has taken steps to improve its communication. A Web-based notification system for food recalls has been introduced, the agency's hold and recall procedures are being revised and new technical assistance manuals for state agencies and schools are available. As well, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said USDA has developed an arrangement with the Department of Education to broadcast a food safety message of significant health concern to schools.

Perhaps now these agencies will improve Food and Nutrition Service notification procedures and instructions and get recall notices to schools sooner than later.