Fresh Produce Discussion Blog: Andy's take: we must do better

Luis of the Fresh Produce Industry Discussion Group first found this on the FDA's Web site, and I print it below. Do you agree with "Andy's take," published June 6.

Welcome to Andy’s Take

Recently the FDA was notified of illnesses caused by Salmonella, a type of bacteria that can cause serious problems in young children, frail or elderly people, and those with weakened immune systems. Working rapidly with our partners at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and agencies in the states, we quickly determined the source to be certain types of raw red tomatoes. We immediately intervened with public health warnings to consumers in Texas and New Mexico, advising them to not eat raw red plum, red Roma, or round red tomatoes.

My Take is that even with this great response and intervention, we must do better. These rapid response and intervention efforts are effective but we must also have an active prevention strategy that will keep these problems from ever developing – that is the reason behind the creation of FDA’s Food Protection Plan.

The Food Protection Plan builds safety into the food supply through prevention. It also employs cutting-edge science and technology for dealing with microbial and chemical contamination and it includes state-of-the-art information technology systems. By building safety into the food supply through prevention at the source, this new dynamic is enabling the FDA of the 21st century to be better able to ensure that the food you eat is safe.

At the same time, the FDA is pursuing many initiatives to enable us to more rapidly detect problems like these that just occurred as well as to immediately investigate to find the source of the contamination, including working with industry to improve track and trace technologies. This outbreak was detected with the help of sophisticated laboratories using advanced technology to quickly identify the harmful bacteria and to do even better we are expanding our scientific collaboration with academia and state agencies.

The FDA continues to accelerate the hiring of more experts in both our centers and our field offices. And, we are building capacity overseas through the FDA’s Beyond our Borders initiative – which will put FDA scientists and experts on the ground in locations like China and India – because many of the foods we consume today originate overseas.

Ten years ago, we probably would not have become aware of the contaminated tomatoes until many more people were sick. Through prevention, intervention and response – and with a full workforce of professionals here and abroad -- serious illness can be minimized. We will continue to make FDA and a food industry better able to protect you and your family and better able to keep contaminated foods from ever reaching your dining table.