FDA audio

Here is the link to a page with Fresh Talk audio files, including today's media questions from the FDA teleconference. You can appreciate the fact that the media has to work to sift the real meaning behind the words.

Psychological distortion?

The 45th Fresh Talk poll is one of the most provocative and hotly contested.

The question simply asks, “Who do you think is to blame for most cases of foodborne illness?
As of July 17, and with four days left to vote, the voters were pinning the blame fairly evenly between growers, retailers, foodservice operators and consumers.

Full disclosure: I voted for “consumers,” primarily because I think too many of us pay no heed to concepts such as the “safe food zone” and other common sense practices.
I asked the question of Fresh Talk’s companion board, the Fresh Produce Industry Discussion Group, and an online message board called “Food Safe.” That forum draws many food safety professionals. Beyond that, I asked what statistics are available to support any answer. Check out the Food Safe thread here.


You will find the first response to my question on “who is to blame” was “lawyers,” left in tongue in cheek style by the food safety attorney himself, Bill Marler.
Another Food Safe board member, David, said this:

“As soon as I saw Consumer on the list, that was a given, but consumer ones don’t make the news. Even if the consumer causes their own problems they are more likely to blame it on the last place they ate out, than their practices at home. Unless there are enough people who get sick, there is no way to track an illness anyway. “

Roy Costa wrote this response on the Food Safe board:

“You asked: "Who do you think is to "blame" for most cases of foodborne illness"?
I believe you have to ask a different question to get the answer you are looking for. The better question is: "What is the "population attributable risk" for FBI at each step in production for each of the major FBI pathogens"? You must ask this question because FBI hazards flow down through the chain creating exposures at each link.
Definition: Population attributable risk (PAR) is the reduction in incidence that would be observed if the population were entirely unexposed, compared with its current (actual) exposure pattern.
In the example below, if all the risk from Salmonella exposures attributed to primary producers was removed, the remaining risk of salmonellosis in the population would be 80%, etc. These following estimates are mostly my best judgment, but I have some data to support them. (OK. I will dig it all up if you are willing to send me a retainer, whataya want for free?)
Costa’s estimates for Population Attributable Samonellosis Risk Primary producers: 20%
Manufacturers 20%
Retailers 10%
Foodservice 40%
Consumers 10%

Carl on the Food Safe board said the question was loaded.
"Who do you think is to blame for most cases of foodborne illness?"
“(This question is a form of psychological and perceptual distortion, better known as blaming the victim, i.e., the people doing the work.)”
“When you ask about blame, it is a vastly different list. “
“This list is a list of people charged with carrying out actions not designing, training, governing, promoting and funding the actions involved with feeding people and caring for public health and sick people. “

Luis, a long time contributor to the Fresh Produce Industry Discussion Board, posed this question in return:

Question is harder to answer than it appears.
“Suppose someone grilled a burger medium-rare this past 4th of July and his family got sick. Assuming, to quote Rosa DeLauro, that E. Coli does not occur naturally in beef, who do we blame? “

Finally, Steve on the Food Safe Board perceptively said that “holes” in each of the supply chain segment are where the blame lies.

“The biggest hole of them all – the regulatory agency that throws blameless growers under the bus.”

Who is to blame? As the salmonella investigation shows, everyone will get their share whether they deserve it or not.

United update: enjoy without regard to origin

From United Fresh, just sliding across the inbox;


Today, CDC and FDA officially announced that “consumers may enjoy all tomatoes that are available in the U.S. marketplace without regard for their origin.”
During a media briefing today about the ongoing Salmonella saintpaul outbreak, FDA Associate Commissioner for Foods David Acheson said that FDA was changing its advice because the farms identified thru the trace back investigations are no longer shipping tomatoes and because they did not find any evidence of contamination along the supply chains that were involved in the trace back investigations.
As evidence has mounted that tomatoes could not be contributing to this outbreak, United Fresh has urged FDA and CDC to change their earlier advisory, so we are pleased with today’s news. However, we continue to encourage CDC and FDA to now complete their investigation of Jalapeño and Serrano peppers quickly so that either the problem can be identified or, if not, these products can be cleared as well.
Both FDA and CDC will update their websites to reflect today’s announcement. CDC also indicated that it would include a graph of the outbreak illnesses on its website.
We will continue to keep you informed, but, as always, please contact us if you have questions. Amy Philpott, 202-303-3400 ext. 425 .

DeLauro: If we had.....

From the office of Rep. Rosa DeLauro:

Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro (CT-3), chairwoman of the Agriculture, Food and Drug Administration Appropriations Subcommittee, issued the following statement regarding the FDA announcement that salmonella warning on tomatoes had been lifted. While the warning, in place since June 7, is removed, the investigation into the on-going outbreak of Salmonella Saintpaul, which has sickened more than 1,200 people, continues.
“If we had an adequate food safety system that included an effective traceback system and better coordination among government agencies, this type of announcement could have been made earlier in the investigation. However, because the current food safety system is fragmented and does not incorporate a ‘farm-to-fork’ approach to food protection, this announcement is being made much later in the process, and possibly too late for the tomato growers who have seen their market suffer enormously.”

Florida welcomes FDA move on tomatoes

From the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange


MAITLAND, Fla. (July 17, 2008) – The Florida tomato industry welcomes the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s announcement today that it is lifting its consumer advisory against tomatoes and that it found no evidence of salmonella saintpaul at any Florida facility.

We have long been confident that Florida’s tomatoes were not associated with the salmonella saintpaul outbreak, and this week our industry called on the FDA to clear our products. Tomatoes from Florida’s growing regions have been gone from the marketplace for weeks, so they could not have been the source of the contamination.

Food safety is a top priority for our industry. Nothing is more important than the confidence of consumers in Florida’s fresh produce. Those who grow, pack and ship fresh tomatoes voluntarily incorporate food safety as part of their everyday business practices. In fact, Florida set a precedent by being the first state in the country to adopt a comprehensive food safety program with mandatory government inspection and audits for tomato production. The program became effective July 1.

Consumer confidence has been shaken by this outbreak, and it will be important for our industry to take the steps necessary to help rebuild that confidence. That will be a top priority for us moving forward.

The pace of the traceback process has been frustratingly slow, and as a result the entire industry has suffered significantly for an outbreak it did not cause. Although they are still assessing their losses, Florida growers estimate that the FDA’s consumer advisory not to eat certain tomatoes will ultimately cost them millions of dollars. The industry is willing to work with the FDA, CDC and other health officials to determine how the agencies’ traceback process can be improved and the important lessons that can be learned from this outbreak.

Producers are clearly committed to taking whatever proactive steps are necessary to ensure Americans have access to the safest, healthiest and most nutritious fresh produce possible. The industry is continually using the latest scientific information available to improve food safety and security practices, and we already have invested millions of dollars to improve our food-safety practices.
There is no such thing as zero risk for fresh produce that is grown in an open, natural environment. However, we wholeheartedly support any information or guidance based on sound science that can help enhance the safety of produce, maintain and enhance consumer confidence, and increase consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables

No more tomato advisory from FDA

FDA has dropped consumer messaging about fresh tomatoes.....

A notable development

Another media briefing scheduled today, at 2 pm. This is the teaser that the FDA put in their media advisory:

A media briefing with experts from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to discuss a notable development in the ongoing investigation of the salmonella outbreak.

Perhaps the FDA will drop their consumer advisory on tomatoes today. We shall see. Even better would be announcement of a definitive finding in the traceback investigation.

One thing is clear. The FDA is getting more and more hits in the trade, the media and on Capitol Hill. Even food safety professionals have let loose a few broadsides.

Speaking of blaming regulators, I ask the question: Could tomatoes and salmonella be the tipping point for a single food safety agency in the U.S.? Highly committed lawmakers such as Rep. Rosa DeLauro have been pushing for a single food safety agency for years. A recent Government Accountability Office report looked at how eight countries with a single food safety agency framework manage their oversight.
And why do those countries have a single food safety agency? From the report:
“Officials stated that the UK consolidated its food safety system due to a loss of public confidence in food safety, which largely resulted from the government’s perceived mishandling of the BSE outbreak. By early 1999, the human form of BSE, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, had caused 35 deaths. It was widely perceived that the fragmented and decentralized food safety system allowed this outbreak to occur.”

Though the turf wars about jurisdiction would make a betting man put his money on the status quo, it is the public who may demand action of lawmakers. BSE was to the United Kingdom what E. coli and salmonella are becoming to the U.S.

Why not?

Western Growers has asked the FDA to lift the tomato advisory. From their release:



Western Growers' President and CEO Tom Nassif sent a letter yesterday to Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach urging him to make a strong public announcement that all tomatoes grown in the United States, regardless of variety, are safe to eat.
"Although tomatoes in California were never associated with this outbreak our growers are suffering," wrote Nassif in the letter. "Some have left fruit to rot on the vine. Others have disced their tomatoes into the ground. The market is suppressed and demand is low. Exporters are having great difficulties selling to overseas markets."
Nassif additionally requested that Dr. von Eschenbach and the FDA coordinate and work with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and other agencies to ensure that confidence in US-grown tomatoes in overseas markets is restored.
"It is time for the Food and Drug Administration to make a public statement giving consumers the 'all clear' announcement that tomatoes produced in the U.S. are safe to eat," wrote Nassif. "The urgency of the matter and increasing damages to the industry compel immediate action. The tomatoes currently being harvested and shipped are from states your agency identifies as not being associated with this outbreak."
Western Growers is an agricultural trade association whose members from Arizona and California grow, pack and ship ninety percent of the fresh fruits, nuts and vegetables grown in California and seventy five percent of those commodities in Arizona. This totals about half of the nation's fresh produce.




TK: The FDA doesn't want to be wrong about tomatoes and salmonella, but it hardly seems likely there are any fresh leads associated with tomatoes currently on the market. It was time to lift the irrelevant advisory weeks ago, and past time now.