Category Archives: food-safety

Preventing Food Borne Illness Remains Illusive

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chicken legs

Americans enjoy one of the world’s safest food and water supplies, in part due to a host of products of chemistry, from simple disinfectants such as chlorine and soap to modified atmosphere packaging.

But while dreadful diseases such as typhoid fever, cholera and tuberculosis have been virtually eliminated in the United States, there are 76 million cases of food borne illness here every year, leading to untold billions in costs, unnecessary suffering and nearly 5,000 deaths. Eradication of food borne diseases remains elusive. Disease causing microbes and pathogens are the primary culprit. That’s where chemistry can help, from farm to table.

Innovations in Food Safety

Food growers use chemical compounds to eradicate a plethora of disease carrying pests that compete for our food supply.

Chlorine disinfectants used in industrial food production penetrate the germ cell walls and membranes, bursting open the germs and leaving them unable to reproduce.

To identify disease causing “bugs” before they reach store shelves and our homes, the business of chemistry has created a DNA-based diagnosis to detect contamination in raw ingredients and finished foods. This Nobel Prize winning technology has become standard in the United States and much of the world to improve food safety.

Plastic packaging plays a major role in protecting fresh, processed and prepared food, as a trip down the grocery aisle can attest. Plastics’ unique properties allow food to remain sealed against air and grime, helping to prevent tampering while extending shelf life. Foods packaged in a modified gaseous atmosphere (replacing air with nitrogen and carbon dioxide, for example) resist mold and spoilage caused by microbes.

Modern refrigeration is made possible by plastics (insulation, liners, hoses, seals, etc.) and chemical refrigerants.

The World Health Organization estimates that diseases associated with dirty water kill at least 6,000 people every day. The most effective weapon against waterborne bacteria and viruses is chlorine chemistry, so water treatment facilities across the world rely on this basic element to clean and disinfect drinking water.

Our military makes extensive use of chemistry for its MREs (meals ready to eat)—they cook themselves through a chemical reaction, withstand extreme temperatures and are designed to last three years without spoiling, made possible by layers of resilient plastics.

Policies to Ensure Chemical Safety

Promoting the safe use of the essential products of chemistry is a shared responsibility of manufacturers, the government and those who use or sell chemical products. Manufacturers and government must work together to:

Develop, implement and comply with sound regulations so chemicals are safe for intended use.

Enhance scientific understanding of chemical safety.

Produce publicly accessible safety information.

Americans must feel confident that the federal regulatory system is keeping pace with the applications of chemistry. Our nation’s primary chemicals management law must be updated to adapt to scientific advancements and to promote that chemical products are safe for intended use—while also encouraging innovation and protecting American jobs.

New USDA Plan to Reduce Salmonella Infections Not Enough

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Because the USDA does not consider Salmonella an adulterant, contaminated raw poultry and meat products can be legally sold to retailers and consumers. That issue that was highlighted when chicken produced by Foster Farms was identified as the source of a Salmonella outbreak twice this year and the company did not issue a recall. If you recall, Foster Farms’ response was “It is your fault. You did not cook it properly. You have to use a thermometer to tell when it has been cooked properly.”

How do you tackle a public health problem that sickens 1.3 million people every year? In a step in the right direction, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA FSIS) has decided to abandon its decades-long “Buyer Beware” Salmonella strategy and made a new plan. A Salmonella Action Plan.

At the top of the list is “modernizing the outdated poultry slaughter inspection system,” which FSIS estimates will result in a reduction of at least 4,286 cases of salmonellosis each year. Also included in the plan: developing new performance and sampling standards, and creating enforcement strategies that link sanitary dressing problems to Salmonella issues.

“This plan is a step in the right direction, but a more straightforward approach would be to declare Salmonella an adulterant,” said food safety attorney Fred Pritzker, publisher of Food Poisoning Bulletin.

At least 523 people have been sickened in the two Foster Farms Salmonella outbreaks announced this year. The current outbreak includes cases from 23 states. The six outbreak strains, several of which are resistant to multiple drugs, are causing illness that is more severe than is typically reported from Salmonella. The hospitalization rate is twice the average, and patients have developed the life-threatening complication of the bacterial infection entering the bloodstream at three times the average rate.

Of the 1.3 million Americans sickened by Salmonella each year, about 15,000 are hospitalized and about 4,000 die. Salmonella infections can also trigger long-term health conditions such as reactive arthritis, inflammation of the heart, spine, tendons and eye membranes. Direct medical costs associated with the treatment of Salmonella poisoning total about $1 million each day, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Jimmy Johns Again Causes E-Coli Outbreak

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An E. coli outbreak in the Denver Metro Area has been traced back to Jimmy John’s, a sandwich chain restaurant. People claimed to have fallen sick from eating sandwiches served in three of the chain’s branches. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, CDC (The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) and the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) are currently investigating the outbreak.

According to FOX31 Denver, a lot of people contacted the station after hearing news of the outbreak investigation. Bill Marler, an accomplished personal injury and products liability attorney, also chimed in on the outbreak, noting it wasn’t the first time that the restaurant had sickened many. He detailed the history of Jimmy John’s food safety problems in a blog post which revealed that food safety issues involving the restaurant didn’t start this year, but in 2008 and 2011, with contaminated alfafa sprouts and iceberg lettuce, and clover sprouts respectively.

Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment epidemiologist Alicia Cronquit said the outbreak came from tainted raw produce. Contaminated sandwiches from the restaurant were reported to have been consumed between the fifth and ninth of October. Customers got sick around October 7th to 15th. The Colorado Health Department was alerted of the outbreak on the 18th.

The Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention confirmed that no other E. coli strains were found in surrounding states and areas. A CDC official maintained that only eight outbreaks have occurred this year. None of the restaurants have been shut down nor publicly identified because authorities did not find them at fault for the foodborne illness outbreak, according to Huffington Post.