The U.S. Food Supply: Safe but with Room for Improvement
In the wake of various foodborne disease outbreaks affecting a wide range of food items, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has made some important statements. Despite the high-profile examples, data suggest that recalls were not unusually high last year. For the fiscal year ending in September, there were 179 recalls deemed as the highest-risk classification, up from 145 in 2023 but less than the 185 recorded in 2022. In 2019, there were 167 high-risk recalls. One significant recall was of tens of thousands of cases of onions processed by Taylor Farms, which were suspected to be linked to a deadly E. coli outbreak in McDonald’s Quarter Pounder burgers, sickening over a hundred people.FDA's Perspective on Food SafetyThe FDA spokesperson emphasized that their ultimate goal is for industry to ensure the safety of foods introduced into the market. Recalls help remove contaminated food quickly, and outbreak advisories provide crucial safety information. The spokesperson also referred to The Economist's report, stating that the U.S. food supply is one of the safest in the world and ranked joint first for the food safety indicator in 2022. In fact, the increase in recalls is seen as an indicator that the safety system is working. The occurrence of recalls and outbreaks shows that manufacturers, importers, and distributors are monitoring for issues and taking action.CDC Data on Foodborne IllnessesFigures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggest that the number of high-profile recalls has increased slightly from last year. So far this year, 10 "multistate foodborne outbreak notices" have been issued, compared to 9 last year and 24 in 2018. Infections from foodborne outbreak culprits like Shiga toxin-producing E. coli have climbed to at least 13,962 this year. Around 13,140 had been reported by health departments at this time last year, and 12,119 were reported in 2019. Foodborne illnesses linked to other germs have also increased across the country in recent years. Sharon Shea, senior director of food safety at the Association for Public Health Laboratories, explained that laboratory technology changes impact surveillance data. Faster and more specific testing makes the data less comparable. Public health departments and doctors have also improved their responses to foodborne outbreaks. For example, there has been a shift towards "molecular-based" panel tests that can be run by hospitals and clinical labs for a variety of germs instead of one-off tests for specific pathogens. Labs in the PulseNet network have also switched to "whole genome sequencing," a more accurate approach for linking different cases.Food Safety Advocates' ViewsFood safety advocates outside the government believe that the U.S. still has much room for improvement. Sarah Sorscher, head of regulatory affairs at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, pointed out that it doesn't help to claim that Americans have the safest food when people are dying from baby carrots. She acknowledged that public health departments have improved in investigating outbreaks but cautioned that only a fraction of foodborne illnesses are solved. Staffing shortages and breakdowns in food safety during the COVID-19 pandemic led to a dip in the number of recalls and reported illnesses. Scott Faber, senior vice president for government relations at the Environmental Working Group, said that the food supply is not as safe as it was even five years ago. Inspections by the FDA of food facilities are falling short of congressional mandates, and the agency has been criticized for not requiring testing of irrigation water sprayed on crops. These are common sense measures to reduce the risk of foodborne illness, and they are the most preventable, needless deaths imaginable.
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