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Salmonella Saintpaul Investigations Slowed by Lobbyists

By Pritzker | Ruohonen

The slow investigation of the FDA and other government agencies in the nationwide Salmonella Saintpaul outbreak has pressured lawmakers and the food industry into updating its record-keeping system.  An electronic tracing system would help to quickly identify the source of outbreaks like the Salmonella outbreak that has sickened over 1200 people this summer.

According to The San Francisco Chronicle,

The food industry pressured the Bush administration years ago to limit the paperwork companies would have to keep to help U.S. health investigators trace produce that sickens consumers, according to interviews and government reports.

The White House also killed a plan to require the industry to maintain electronic tracking records. Companies complained the proposals were too burdensome and costly, and warned they could disrupt the availability of consumers' favorite foods - especially fresh produce.

Representative John Dingell (D-Michigan) claims that the food industry has brought trouble upon itself.  The “successful” lobbying effort to halt regulations requiring a better record-keeping system has backfired, slowing down investigators and costing businesses and growers approximately $250 million.  According to William Hubbard, a former FDA associate commissioner, “If the FDA had been given the resources and authority years ago that it requested to solve these kinds of problems, I think we would have solved this already.”

The search for the source of the outbreak was long and arduous, to an extent that Congress is holding a hearing to investigate why it took so long to get any real answers.  Although an electronic tracking system would have expedited the investigation, there are already supposed to be measures in place to help with these types of investigations.  The Public Health Security and Bio Terrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002 already requires the food industry to keep records so that food can be traced.

Frank Pecarich at the California Progress Report writes that,

In Congress, a leading advocate of food industry safety reforms said the industry would do well to listen to consumers on the need for tracing. "We live in an age of technology where you can bar-code a banana," said Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill. "We've got to work this through with the industry and come up with something that's reasonable. The more confidence consumers have, the more goods they will purchase."

It’s about time that the industry changes its views on a better record-keeping system.  After the devastating losses of the Salmonella Saintpaul outbreak, the system is a logical choice.  The industry, working with Congress and food safety agencies, can do a lot better to make sure that future outbreak investigations go quickly and smoothly, minimizing damage to the economy and to the industry, all while protecting the health of America.

Full post as published by Food Poisoning Law Blog on July 28, 2008 (boomark / email).