Health Law

Food Safety Still Has A Long Way To Go

By Marler Clark

It looks like Congress is about to throw Detroit a bone by infusing some taxpayer money into the cash-starved Big Three.  But the area Congress should really be focusing its attention is on the US's preparedness (or lack thereof) for health emegencies.

Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) released a report yesterday that concludes the US's ability to protects itself from disease outbreaks, natural disasters, and bioterrorism is now at risk from budget cuts and the worsening economic crisis.

With regard to food safety specifically, the report noted that America’s food safety system has not been fundamentally modernized in more than 100 years.  Further, twenty states and the District of Columbia do not meet or exceed the national average rate for being able to identify the pathogens, like E. coli O157:H7 and Salmonella, that are responsible for foodborne disease outbreaks in their respective states.

Conclusion?  SHOW FOOD SAFETY THE MONEY!

The full report is available here.

Full post as published by Food Poison Blog on December 10, 2008 (boomark / email).