RV: [BITES-L] bites Aug. 30/10

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From: Doug Powell <dpowell@KSU.EDU>

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Date: Mon, 30 Aug 2010 13:19:57 -0500

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Subject: [BITES-L] bites Aug. 30/10

bites Aug. 30/10

USA Today says egg recalls fit pattern of negligence, lax oversight; industry says, no

NEW YORK: New York pols push for bills requiring salmonella vaccination for hens after egg recall

COLORADO schools fail lunchroom inspection mandate

US: Food safety in retail stores and delis

Food safety for 4-H youth: A survey of interests and educational methods

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USA Today says egg recalls fit pattern of negligence, lax oversight; industry says, no
30.aug.10
barfblog
Doug Powell
http://www.barfblog.com/blog/143892/10/08/30/usa-today-says-egg-recalls-fit-pattern-negligence-lax-oversight-industry-says-n
He said, she said in today's USA Today, with the editorial board saying the salmonella outbreak that has sickened thousands means "someone obviously fouled up," and Indiana egg farmer and United Egg Producers chairman, Bob Krouse, saying "completely cooked eggs are completely safe eggs."
Krouse: "Family farms like ours produce 80 billion eggs every year in this country, and we go to great lengths to help ensure the quality and safety of every one of them."
USA Today: "The egg recall is part of a pattern. When problems emerge with America's food supply or in other areas where safety is crucial, it often starts with a rogue company or CEO who sees safety violations as a cost of doing business and outmaneuvers federal regulators while Congress dithers."
Krouse: "Our efforts must be having an effect because the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety Inspection Service estimates the risk of illness to be less than '1 in 1 million' egg servings for the average consumer."
USA Today: "There's no excuse for contamination so widespread that it sickens nearly 1,500 people and requires the recall of more than half a billion eggs."
Krouse: "Egg farmers invest millions of dollars each year in biosecurity and food safety efforts. The vast majority of us already incorporate vaccination programs into our food safety plans."
USA Today: "Regulations requiring egg farm operators to test for salmonella stayed on the shelf through the notoriously anti-regulatory Bush administration until the Obama administration finally got them into place last month. The FDA says those rules could have prevented the outbreak, which presumes that farms would have complied — and that the FDA would have dogged them."
Krouse: "It is disappointing to see some groups try to take advantage of this crisis for their own political or social agendas. We urge everyone to wait until the FDA finishes its investigation of the two companies involved before jumping to any conclusions. "
USA Today: "… instead of just writing up violations, it (FDA) needs to crack down on rogue companies, treating them the same way the criminal justice system treats repeat offenders."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2010-08-30-editorial30_ST_N.htm
http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2010-08-30-editorial30_ST1_N.htm

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NEW YORK: New York pols push for bills requiring salmonella vaccination for hens after egg recall
30.aug.10
Daily News
Erin Durkin
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/08/30/2010-08-30_albany_pols_egged_on_by_salmonella.html?r=news
Two state pols will introduce bills requiring farmers to vaccinate hens against salmonella, they announced Sunday.
The move comes as thousands of people around the country got sick from salmonella this month, leading to a recall of half a billion eggs from Iowa farms.
The federal Food and Drug Administration responded with new egg safety rules, but they didn't require hens to get salmonella shots.
"Requiring salmonella vaccination should be a no-brainer, and if the FDA is unwilling to take the lead, we should start here in New York," said state Sen. Daniel Squadron (D-Manhattan, Brooklyn), who himself had a brush with salmonella in college.
"We believe it was from an undercooked omelet," said Squadron, who was hospitalized for four days. "It is a terrible, terrible disease."

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COLORADO schools fail lunchroom inspection mandate
30.aug.10
Education News Colorado
Rebecca Jones
http://www.ednewscolorado.org/2010/08/30/7417-colorado-schools-fail-inspection-mandate
Federal regulations require school lunchrooms be inspected at least twice a year by local health authorities but more than half of all Colorado schools fail to meet that mandate. Many aren't inspected even once a year.
It's a record that put Colorado in the bottom five of all states in 2008-09, the most recent year available, when an average 29.5 percent of schools nationwide fell short of the required number of inspections.
The reason so many schools lag: While the 2004 School Lunch Reauthorization Act requires schools to obtain twice-yearly inspections, Congress didn't set aside any additional money to pay for those increased inspections.
Cash-strapped county health departments — who aren't answerable to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which administers the school lunch program — often choose to put their inspection resources elsewhere, and schools are caught in the middle. Since there's no penalty for non-compliance, few school districts press the issue.
In Colorado, at least, no major illnesses have ensued. The last widespread illness traceable to food served in a school lunchroom was in 2000, when some 50 students at an elementary school in Adams County fell ill with shigella after eating tainted gelatin.
But with more and more schools abandoning frozen processed foods and returning to scratch cooking from fresh raw ingredients, officials acknowledge the possibility for food contamination will grow.
"We use a risk-based approach in our inspections, and many of our schools are in a lower risk category now based on the fact the menu consists of pre-packaged prepared food," said Lane Drager, consumer protection program coordinator for Boulder County Public Health. "That's very low-risk from a food safety standpoint.
"Schools will change their risk profile with a different menu," Drager said. "But we don't have any different resources with which to do more inspections. It will be a huge challenge for us."
Fresher food means higher risk

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US: Food safety in retail stores and delis
30.aug.10
Meatingplace
James Marsden
http://www.meatingplace.com/MembersOnly/blog/BlogDetail.aspx?topicID=6984&BlogID=11
(The views and opinions expressed in this blog are strictly those of the author.)
The United States is fortunate to have a variety of excellent food retailers. For the most part, retail stores and deli's keep foods clean and safe. Food safety issues can usually be traced back to problems that occurred upstream during manufacturing. Retailers are in a good position to establish performance standards and other requirements from their suppliers to enhance food safety. This is especially important as the food supply supply becomes increasing globalized. There are also steps that could be taken at stores that would further reduce the risk of contamination.
Here are some actions that could be taken by food retailers that would provide a greater margin of safety for consumers.
1. The food safety systems employed by suppliers should be fully certified through an independent third party. This should go beyond GMP (good manufacturing practices) audits, COAs (certificates of analysis) and determining whether plants are operating under a HACCP Plan. The SQF (Safe Quality Food) program is a good start, but I believe that more is needed. Certification should evaluate the effectiveness of food safety systems; including documentation of scientific validation studies for CCP's (critical control points) and regular verification audits to assure that food safety controls are operating properly during food production and processing. A comprehensive system that includes process validation and regular verification would help prevent major food safety events like the current massive recall of shell eggs.
2. Food safety validation and verification systems need to be implemented for all suppliers, including those in developing countries. The Global Food Safety Initiaive (GFSI) is well positioned to coordinate this effort. In order for it to be effective, a single certification process will be required.
3. When possible, retailers should specify that food products be processed using technologies that minimize the risk of pathogen contamination and foodborne disease. For example, the use of growth inhibitors and high pressure processing can virtually eliminate risks in many ready-to-eat food products.
4. Retailers should evaluate improved packaging systems for raw meat and poultry products. Leaky packages can cause cross-contamination.
5. Many retail stores operate a variety of food service operations, including delis, mini-restaurants, salad bars and other self- service counters. Great care should be taken to assure that foods are properly prepared and that systems are in place to prevent cross contamination. For delis, it may be necessary to operate different slicers for different types of products,
6. In stores that have meat preparation areas, care should be taken to separate meat, poultry and seafood operations. In addition, many of the technologies that are employed in meat and poultry plants to prevent contamination have applications in retail stores.
7. Fresh produce areas should be treated as ready-to-eat rooms. Care should be taken to reduce sources of environmental contamination.
8. Visual cleanliness and sanitation in retail stores is already a consumer requirement. The same attention should be given to areas of the stores that aren't seen by consumers. Warehouse and staging areas should be just as clean and sanitary.
9. Traceability systems that allow a rapid response to a food safety crisis should be in place.
These along with improved employee training, continued emphasis on temperature control and GMPs would go a long way towards making an already excellent system of food retailing even better.

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Food safety for 4-H youth: A survey of interests and educational methods
01.aug.10
Journal of Extension
David C. Diehl, Dale W. Pracht, Larry F. Forthun, Amy H. Simonne
http://www.joe.org/joe/2010august/a5.php
Abstract
Improper food safety practices cause numerous illnesses and cost Americans billions of dollars each year. The study reported here addressed food safety issues by analyzing data from surveys with 4-H youth about their food safety attitudes, behaviors, and preferred methods of educational delivery. Analyses of gender differences indicate that males and females have distinct attitudes, behaviors, and preferences, necessitating more tailored educational approaches. Youth are most interested in food safety information that is fun, interactive, and built around cooking demonstrations. 4-H staff and others in Extension can optimize youth learning and practice change by approaching food safety from this experiential perspective.

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