Food Poisoning and Food Contamination Legislation Encourage Orlando Injury Lawyers
As Orlando injury lawyers handling food poisoning and food contamination cases, we are keeping an eye on food safety legislation. Spurred by deadly outbreaks of E. coli and other food-borne pathogens, a group of U.S. lawmakers is pushing to put all food safety oversight under a single federal agency.
The Food Safety Act of 2007 would create a Food Safety Administration responsible for ensuring the security of the food supply from all forms of contamination. The proposed legislation comes on the heels of a number of widespread outbreaks of food-borne illness.
An E. coli outbreak in spinach last year killed three people and sickened more than 200. The FDA has confirmed 22 outbreaks of E. coli O157 linked to fresh leafy greens (20 lettuce, 2 spinach) since 1995. Half of those were linked to bagged salads. Further fueling public concern, more than 400 people fell ill between last fall and this spring after eating peanut butter contaminated by salmonella spread by a sprinkler system.
In March, growing reports of sick and dying cats and dogs led to a recall of pet food whose maker had used melamine-laced food additives from China. Chickens and hogs that had consumed pet food remnants were withheld from slaughter for a time out of concerns about human melamine consumption.
Currently, 12 federal agencies and 35 laws govern food safety, often with overlapping jurisdictions and different priorities. The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration play the biggest roles in making sure the food Americans eat is safe. The USDA oversees meat and poultry, while the FDA is responsible for eggs and produce. The lines are not always clear-cut. For example, cheese pizzas fall under the FDA, while pepperoni pizzas fall under the Department of Agriculture.
In January, the Government Accountability Office added federal oversight of food safety to its list of high risk programs in need of reform. The GAO urged Congress to consider change before public health and safety is seriously compromised. Further, recurring outbreaks linked to produce prompted a number of congressional hearings on food safety in recent months, but even the biggest proponents of overhauling government oversight of the food supply are not predicting passage of the Safe Food Act this year. As with anything in Washington, things take time. For now, we are encouraged by the focus on prevention of food poisoning and food contamination by improving the oversight of food safety by the federal government.
