WP: At E. Coli Hunt's End, A Safety Standards Gap

[DeepModem Mom]

At E. Coli Hunt's End, A Safety Standards Gap
By Annys Shin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, September 22, 2006; Page D01

It took exactly 14 days from the time state health officials in Wisconsin noticed five cases of E. coli O157:H7 in the same county until investigators arrived Wednesday at a field in California's Salinas Valley in search of the bacteria that ended up in bagged spinach and sickened 157 people in 23 states.

The outbreak -- the largest, in terms of victims, caused by fresh produce -- has exposed strengths and weaknesses in the highly fragmented U.S. food safety system. And the extent of it has federal officials talking about imposing tougher regulation.

"There are good agricultural practices out there. . . . The question that will be addressed is: Are they adequate? Are they being followed? Does the industry need to be further regulated to be safe?" said David W. Acheson, a top Food and Drug Administration food safety official.

Even as public health officials have gotten better at identifying the onset of illness borne by raw fruits and vegetables, the rules and procedures to prevent those outbreaks remain weaker than those for meat and poultry, consumer advocates and food safety experts said. And their enforcement relies on the voluntary efforts of growers and processors, and on the FDA, which has responsibility for much of the food supply but nowhere near the authority or resources devoted to the monitoring of meat and poultry.

"The FDA is acting like the fire department after the fire has already started," said Caroline Smith DeWaal, director of food safety for the Center for Science in the Public Interest....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/21/AR2006092101708.html

[kurth]

1. Reality check:

... Practices appeared looser than industry guidelines perhaps intended. For example, as foreman Octavio Felix watched his crew of 36 laborers use sharp knives to cut iceberg heads from their roots, passing them on to a conveyer belt where, in this case, they're immediately bagged in plastic for delivery to the store. He said workers were free to go to the portable toilets anytime they wished and that liquid sanitizer was nearby so they could wash their knives from time to time. The toilets were spartan, though not especially dirty, and there was soap available to wash up. ``We don't make them wear hair nets, but gloves, yes,'' said Felix, admitting that their knives sometimes do come into contact with soil -- ``The knife can touch the dirt when you're first learning how to cut,'' he said. ``But as you get better at it, it doesn't happen.'' From the field, the greens are delivered by truck in large plastic or cardboard bins, either to a nearby processing plant where the leaves are turned into bagged spinach, lettuce or other salad mixes, or to a cooling facility...

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/15581258.htm

[DeepModem Mom]

2. Thanks for this link, kurth! nt

[cap]

3. barf...

there are no real toilets near the conveyor belt so that workers cant wash completely...

I dont know about you but most porta potties that I've been in have been kinda nasty to completely disgusting. Liquid sanitizer as a sufficient cleaner... I dont think so.


I think it is the Bush MO at work again... cutting safety inspections... sneaking in quiet rule changes that loosen safety standards... cutting funding for safety...


Renaming "reclaimed water" and not inspecting it thoroughly... aka water that cows pooped in

oh yeah... and it smells to high heaven.

E coli is a 3rd world disease because of inadequate sanitation. I'd like to take a good look at the all the food we are importing from the third world these days, as well.

There should be a class action lawsuit on this ...