Crisis - or not

More on the teleconference this morning...

The two FDA officials at the press conference were: Nega Beru, director of the office of food safety at the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, and David Acheson, director of food defense communication and emergency response for the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition.

Acheson led off, stressing that the food supply in America is one of the safest in the world (what, not THE safest?) and FDA intends to keep it that way and strive to make it even safer.

"Recent outbreaks have raised concerns about the safety of the food supply, but overall, based on information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there is no indication that the total number of foodborne illnesses is actually on the increase compared to where it was a decade ago."

TK: This is a puzzler. How come we have been hearing so much about surging foodborne illnesses? Note, however, he didn't say produce-related foodborne illnesses....

"However, recent outbreaks have indicated that clearly more need to be done to further minimize the minimize the risk of foodborne illness."

"The vast majority of foodborne illnesses are at least, in theory, preventable, and therefore one of the main focuses in FDA is on prevention."

"However, when tackling prevention, it is important to take a scientific, risk-based approach to devote resources to the areas of greatest risk."

"This history of produce related outbreaks and fresh cut related outbreaks clearly indicates that these are an area of risk and hence the guidance targeted to the fresh cut industry."

Acheson also said that there is a clear need to better understand how and where E. coli and other pathogens get on to produce and how to prevent it. He concluded by saying the FDA is committed to respond to foodborne illness outbreaks quickly and get information to consumers as soon as possible.

TK: A couple of "howevers" one "in theory" and "a clear need to better understand." Like the rest of us, FDA doesn't have all the answers yet.

Beru presented some interesting stats:

"As you know, the fresh cut produce sector is the fast growing segment of the produce industry, with the larger volume and greater variety being available."

At the same time, perhaps because of increasing market share of fresh cut produce, he said there has been greater incidence of foodborne illness related to fresh cut produce.

Between 1996 and 2006, about 25% of all outbreaks related to fresh produce implicated fresh cut produce, he said. He said fresh cut processing may increase the risk of bacterial contamination and growth by breaking the natural exterior barrier of the produce. A higher degree of handling may increase the risk of cross contamination, as well - though he said that use of controls such as adequate chlorine in dump tanks may reduce the risk.


TK: I don't think members of the consumer press "got" what the FDA has done relating to food safety guidance for fresh cut. More on that later.

Here is Congressional reaction from Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn.

Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro (Conn.-3) issued the following statement in response to the FDA’s issuance of voluntary new guidance for makers of fresh-cut produce. DeLauro chairs the House Appropriations Agriculture Subcommittee and is a co-chair of the Congressional Food Safety Caucus.

“At a time when the country is experiencing numerous food-borne illness outbreaks, and the industry is looking for the government’s help to repair their image, it is disappointing that the FDA issues a non-binding, voluntary guidance document that does nothing and merely tells growers what they already know.

“The FDA has an opportunity to create a system for the produce industry that focuses on preventing hazards by applying science based controls, from raw material to finished product, and make a declarative statement that the goal is to prevent food-borne illness not just to react when outbreaks occur. Unfortunately, the FDA so far is choosing to maintain the status-quo.

“Stating the obvious is a meaningless activity and it does not respond to the industry’s request for strong, federal regulations critical to restoring consumer confidence in the fresh produce they purchase.”