www.checkbiotech.org ; www.raupp.info ; www.czu.cz

At a time when so many resources are being pumped into improving consumer
health through food, it is pitifully ironic that more and more people are
getting sick or dying from what they eat because of safety slips by Lorraine
Heller .

A new report published last week by the US Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention reveals a 50 percent increase in E coli infections since 2004,
and a monstrous 78 percent increase in Vibrio infections - caused by eating
raw shellfish - over the past decade.

The center estimates that 76 million Americans get sick and 5,000 die from
foodborne hazards each year in the United States. That's 5,000 deaths too
many, and it cries out for immediate attention form government and industry.

Admittedly, it might be a little optimistic to call for the complete
eradication of all contamination cases, but there is certainly room for much
improvement.

In the last six months, there have been huge outbreaks associated with
spinach, lettuce, tomatoes and peanut butter, and consumer groups are not
just ranting when they say that people's confidence in the safety of the
food supply has been severely shaken.

Results are also coming through to convince those that need monetary
incentive to admit to a problem.

The recent spinach E coli outbreak, for example, resulted in estimated
losses of $100m throughout the industry, with sales not yet fully recovered.

And the case of ConAgra's peanut butter salmonella contamination has also
hit the firm hard. Although ConAgra doesn't reveal the full impact of the
infection on its business, a rough guess points to significant losses. For
the recall alone, the firm said it expected to fork out up to $60m. Add to
that the complete halt of production of its Peter Pan peanut butter -
produced exclusively at the affected plant in Sylvester, Georgia - for a
good six months, and the numbers start climbing.

ConAgra plans to contract with a co-packer to get Peter Pan back on the
shelves in July while its own plant is being renovated, but a huge chunk of
the firm's $150m annual sales in peanut butter - of which Peter Pan forms
the large majority - has already been eaten away. Together with the lives
of at least four consumers.

A better tracking system for food contamination would go some way to
reducing the damage caused by such cases, but an absolute priority needs to
be better systems for prevention.

This means a more uniform food safety network, more stringent regulation and
more federal funding pumped into the FDA to make it all possible.

Under current law, food safety monitoring, inspection and labeling functions
are spread across 15 agencies in the federal government, including the US
Department of Agriculture (USDA) which oversees meat, poultry and egg
products; the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) which oversees most other
food products; and the US Commerce Department's National Marine Fisheries
Service which inspects fish. The agencies collectively administer at least
30 laws.

The nation's General Accounting Office in February called on legislators to
radically amend the food safety system, which it said is fragmented,
ineffective and inefficient. One solution, it said, was to consolidate
regulatory insight.

New proposed legislation was introduced in 2005 in an effort to achieve just
this. Senator Dick Durbin and Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro's Safe Food Act
would include regular, but random, inspection of all food processing plants;
categorized review process for all foods to monitor and inspect them based
on their risk, not their name; increased oversight of imported foods; and
established requirements for tracing foods to point of origin.

As we have unfortunately witnessed, self regulation just doesn't cut it any
more.

Voluntary guidance or industry self regulatory schemes is a short sighted
answer to a growing problem that calls for immediate and permanent
solutions, according to Consumers Union.

But while we can only hope that the government will take necessary action,
food manufacturers need to do everything in their power to protect their
consumers and their business.

ConAgra said it "had plans in place to address this kind of situation". Now
the firm is totally renovating and redesigning its plant to separate raw
ingredients from finished products, as well as appointing a Global Food
Safety executive and forming a Food Safety Advisory Committee.

These are all positive moves, it's just a shame they needed to be prompted
by disaster. Learning from mistakes is good, but preventing them is even
better.

[www.foodnavigator-usa.com]