HOLES IN PRODUCE SAFETY COULD KILL YOU

Sep 24, 2006
Charlotte Observer
Amy Baldwin
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/business/15
596003.htm

The recent E. coli outbreak linked to bagged spinach is making clear what food safety experts say they've known for years: From farm to fork, there aren't enough checks and balances to protect consumers from contaminated food. One expert likened lax government oversight and voluntary guidelines to gambling with people's lives. Among the holes they cite in the safety of the nation's food supply: The Food and Drug Administration has no authority to inspect farms until an outbreak. The FDA can't enforce safety regulations on the farm or in a production facility. It can merely suggest good practices.

In fact, the agency twice in the past two years warned spinach growers to improve safety on their farms. There are lots of opportunities for food contamination -- from the farm to the processing plants to distribution centers and retail stores. Yet, the thoroughness and frequency of state inspections vary, and it's possible a store could go years without a check-up -- if at all. As of Saturday, the outbreak had sickened 171 people in 25 states -- but neither of the Carolinas -- and killed at least one person in Wisconsin. Authorities in Idaho and Maryland were investigating the deaths of two others, including a toddler to determine whether their deaths were also linked to E. coli.

The FDA first warned of the E. coli outbreak Sept. 14, telling consumers to avoid bagged spinach and that even washing the leaves would not remove the sometimes deadly bacteria. Food safety experts say such outbreaks could be avoided. Possible solutions, they said: the FDA or U.S. Department of Agriculture -- or some government entity -- should have more authority on farms when it comes to preventing diseases in humans. And growers should be required to adhere to safety standards, rather than merely being encouraged to.

Michael Doyle, director of the University of Georgia's Center for Food Safety, was quoted as saying, "This industry has been playing roulette with the consumer for way too long a time." Caroline Smith DeWaal, food safety director for Washington-based Center for Science in the Public Interest, a consumer advocacy group, was cited as saying right now, the system for ensuring safety of produce is a patchwork construction and the holes are becoming more apparent, adding, "We don't have an agency that can go in and do a mandatory recall. We don't have an agency with inspectors to see that they have (safety) controls in place. We don't even have mandatory controls. The FDA relies on guidelines."

Doyle of University of Georgia was cited as saying he favors a law that would require produce growers to have certain practices in place to reduce pathogens, similar to what meatpackers had to do following the Pathogen Reduction Act of 1994. Such laws are necessary to give companies economic motivation to ensure food safety, Doyle said. Before the Pathogen Reduction Act, meatpackers with more rigorous precautions were at an economic disadvantage to less stringent competitors. The costs of safety procedures couldn't be passed on to consumers, he said.

"Consumers expect their food to be safe," Doyle said. Critical control points in produce would vary by type of fruit and vegetable, he added. Lettuce, for example, could be washed with an organic acid or peroxide heated to a certain level. Doyle said his lab has tested such processes. Consumers who sampled it didn't notice a dramatic difference in taste.

One food safety expert would like to see growers come up with their own standards, rather than rely on government intervention. Lost business, bad publicity and possibly lawsuits could provide the catalyst for better safety measures from farm to production plant, said Douglas Powell, scientific director of the Food Safety Network at Kansas State University. "This one is going to change things," he said. It "didn't shut down a company but an entire commodity. You are only as good as your worst grower."