Salmonella Lawyer & Attorney : Marler Clark : Salmonella Blog

This week's food safety infosheet from the International Food Safety Network highlights a recent Salmonella outbreak that was traced to a Quizno's restaurant in Rochester, Minnesota.  From the infosheet:

Doug Schultz, spokesman for the Minnesota Department of Health was quoted as saying "We're still investigating the outbreak, and part of that investigation involves produce items being the likely vehicle for the contamination."

Tomatoes are suspected, but no definitive cause has been confirmed. The restaurant reopened after certification from Olmsted County Public Health.

Other Salmonella outbreaks have been traced to contaminated tomatoes.  In 2004, Sheetz convenience stores were the source of a Salmonella outbreak that resulted in hundreds of illnesses. 

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A recent editorial commentary by the Pittsburgh Post Gazette addresses the recent incidents of food-borne disease, particularly those involving produce in restaurant chains such as Taco Bell.

Despite more than 12,000 food-processing plants in the United States, says the editorial,  the budget of a key federal watchdog, the Food and Drug Administration's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, has been cut by 37 percent since 2003.

Last year, the agency conducted 4,573 inspections. The goal this year: 3,400. While the number of federal inspectors and inspections is declining, the number of illnesses linked to produce have jumped sharply, doubling between 1998 and 2004.

The editorial further goes on to say that “The fragmented approach to food safety must be streamlined and bolstered if the public is to be protected. E. coli and other pathogens don't merely give people a stomach ache; they can kill,” and urges Congress to prepare to make the changes necessary to retain public confidence in the safety of the nation's food supply.
 

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Caroline Smith DeWaal, director of food safety at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, commented in a recent TomPaine.com editorial in regards to the need for Americans to eat for fresh fruits and vegetables, and how the recent food poisoning outbreaks are hindering that message.

“Contaminated foods kill about 5,000 Americans each year, and sicken another 76 million, according to the Centers for Disease Control,” says DeWall. “While the numbers seem enormous, what often isn’t counted is the cost to survivors, who sometimes suffer loss of kidney function, miscarriage, colitis or reactive arthritis after a bout of food poisoning. The liability costs of the recent spinach outbreak may well exceed $100 million, money that should have been invested in preventing the outbreak with more effective oversight of growers.”

She then outlined CSPI’s recommendations of several policy options that she feels would help plug gaps in the food safety system:

•    Congressional funding for the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition to reflect the growing demands on the agency.
•    Improvements in food-safety conditions on the farm by designating one agency to promulgate regulations for and conduct inspections of America’s farms.
•    A modern food safety law to supplant the “current hodgepodge of laws”, some of which were enacted 100 years ago.
•    The creation of a single food-safety agency, with the authority to recall food from the market and to penalize companies that produce contaminated products.

 

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