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Ground Breaking Food Safety Legislation is signed into Law by President Obama

President Obama quietly signed the bill early on Tuesday Jan. 4, 2011 when he returned from his family vacation in Hawaii. At the end of last year the U.S. House and Senate passed sweeping legislation that aimed to make food safer, as part of a giant year-end budget bill.

This $1.4 billion food safety legislation is seeking to address a number of problems with the current food safety system. The FDA’s current programs are not designed to emphasize prevention, evaluate hazards, and focus inspection resources on areas of greatest risk to public health.

The U.S. food supply is among the safest in the world. Even though food safety-related incidents frequently heighten public and media scrutiny of the U.S. food safety system,

President Obama, in a March 14, 2009, weekly radio address, called the food safety system a “hazard to public health. He announced a Food Safety Working Group to advise him on how we can upgrade our food safety laws for the 21st century; foster coordination throughout government; and ensure that we are not just designing laws that will keep the American people safe, but enforcing them.

These and other developments have made food safety a top issue for many lawmakers.

The foundations of any new program should be an understanding of what, and how, hazards can enter the food supply, and measures to prevent these hazards. A popular version of this approach is the so-called Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) system,

The bill will include better performance standards and record-keeping requirements to better control risk factors and find the source of food safety problems. Potential food safety hazards should now include consideration at the farm level and apply to manufacturing, packing, food, harvesting, storing, or distributing raw agricultural commodities that were generally excluded.

The FDA’s inspection frequencies have been declining significantly, as the number of facilities rises and the agency’s workforce declines. This bill would increase the frequency of FDA inspections and expand the FDA’s traceback capabilities and strengthen the notification and recall authorities of both FDA and FSIS.

This bill will address the growing concerns about whether current federal programs sufficiently ensure the safety of food imports. It will recommend tighter controls and certification or verification systems using third parties to do so. The use of so-called third parties is increasingly being promoted as a method for helping regulators such as the FDA to carry out their oversight responsibilities; The Senate bill would require third party auditors and audit agents to issue written and electronic certifications to accompany each import food shipment as a way to ensure that it meets U.S. safety and security standards.

Surveillance for foodborne illness is carried out by the states, with federal assistance from the CDC. This bill will establish an advisory group on improving foodborne illness surveillance and outbreak investigations.

A fundamental problem has been the lack of sufficient funding and staff to ensure a safe food supply. The house passed bill will establish a variety of fees to help fund food safety activities. A facility registration fee set at $500 per facility, a fee from each facility that either violates any food-related requirement and an annual export certification fee for the registration of an importer of food also set at $500.

FDA Approves use of Bacteriophages as a meat and poultry additive:
(available at http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/opabacqa.html)

Bacteriophages' effect on food pathogens:
The European Food Safety Authority's (EFSA) Panel on Biological Hazards has released a report stating that "bacteria eating" viruses, known as bacteriophages, could be an effective way of eliminating specific food pathogens. (available at http://www.efsa.europa.eu/EFSA/efsa_locale-1178620753812_1211902525399.htm)

Guidance for Industry:
Control of Listeria monocytogenes in Refrigerated or Frozen Ready-To-Eat Foods (available at: http://www.foodsafety.gov/~dms/lmrtegui.html)

Guidance for Industry:
Measures to Address the Risk of Contamination by Salmonella Species in Food Containing a Peanut-Derived Product as an Ingredient (available at http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/pnutguid.html)

Peanut-Derived Products Used as Ingredients:
Bulletin to Operators of Food Service Establishments and Retail Food Stores Regarding Measures to Address the Risk for Contamination by Salmonella Species in Food Containing a Peanut-Derived Product as an Ingredient (available at http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/pnutbull.html)

Guidance for Industry:Good Importer Practices Draft Guidance (available at http://www.fda.gov/oc/guidance/goodimportpractice.html)

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Posted: Tuesday, March 10, 2009

FDA seeks rapid test for salmonella as current test takes over a week

NEWS [Associated Press] - March 10, 2009 - WASHINGTON - Wanted: Salmonella detector. Must work fast.

Send plans and specifications to Uncle Sam, care of the Food and Drug Administration.

Frustrated that conventional lab methods can now take as long as nine days to identify the most common of food bugs, the FDA is searching for a rapid test for salmonella.

Two recent outbreaks - one involving peanut butter, the other blamed on tomatoes and hot peppers - have put the agency on the spot.

Each time the FDA had pieces of the puzzle, but it took a while to fill in the complete picture. The uncertainty made consumers nervous about eating everyday foods. Food producers lost millions in forgone sales and recalled products. Lawmakers fumed. One congressman likened the government's disease detectives to the Keystone Kops.

Since other outbreaks are likely to happen, FDA officials are desperately seeking anything that would make their response more efficient.

'The goal here isn't to design some sort of 'Star Trek' gizmo,' said Dr. David Acheson, assistant commissioner for food safety. 'We're looking for something that can save us 12 hours here, 12 hours there. If we can shave it to five days, that would be a step forward.'

Michael Doyle, head of the food safety program at the University of Georgia, said the FDA should aim high. 'To identify an outbreak can take two to three weeks, if they can get that down to three days, it would be a major step forward.'

The FDA has asked the Pentagon, the Homeland Security and Agriculture departments, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to lend their expertise. The Agriculture Department and the CDC also contend with salmonella outbreaks. Homeland Security has responsibility for combatting bioterrorism. And the Pentagon is skilled at evaluating all kinds of technology.

'We approached these guys, and they're interested in working jointly,' said Acheson.

The first step is to see whether any private companies or academic research centers are working on a rapid test. Then Acheson wants to select two or three methods to evaluate more closely. Finally he'd compare specific techniques and devices in head-to-head lab tests.

One of the reasons it can take so long to identify salmonella is that samples submitted to the lab may not have enough of the bacteria. More bacteria have to be cultured in a nutrient-rich broth to make an identification.

'I can't make the bugs divide any quicker,' said Acheson. 'But what if we had tools that could work off a smaller number of organisms? I think there is time to be shaved there.'

If the initial screening finds salmonella, more testing is needed to match its particular genetic fingerprint to the outbreak strain.

The easiest thing would be to have a portable device that inspectors could carry with them. They could take a tomato, pulverize it, inject the juice into the device, and get an answer in a matter of hours.

'That would be the Holy Grail,' said Acheson.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

CDC salmonella page: http://www.cdc.gov/salmonella/