As Europe wrestles with a deadly new E. coli bacteria, Americans are also at risk and little is being done to protect us. Federal officials have identified six additional strains of E. coli in our food supply. They have been connected with food-borne illnesses involving lettuce, raw ground beef, berries and other foods.
While the strains have been identified, food supplies are not being tested for them and the bacteria have not been labeled as dangerous adulterants, which would lead to stricter quality and reporting standards.
The main problem — as so often seems the case — is money. Government labs have discovered the existence of the dangerous bacteria in staple foods consumed by almost everyone.
The Government Accountability Office this year estimated that the new bacteria strains cause about 113,000 illnesses and as many as 300 hospitalizations in the U.S. every year.
Congress has been aware and taken action — of sorts. Last December it passed the Food Safety Modernization Act, which, supporters say, goes a long way to improving food safety by mandating recalls, calling for stricter inspections and providing for ways to find the origin of the contaminated food.
Congress did this — and then made its action worthless by refusing to appropriate the money needed to enforce the law. For example, imported food should be inspected under the law. Actually, only 1 percent of imports are inspected today because the resources to do what the law requires aren’t there.
THESE FACTS came from an article in the New York Times written by Jeff Benedict, author of “Poisoned: The True Story of the Deadly E. Coli Outbreak that Changed the Way Americans Eat.” Benedict closed with this comment: “We shouldn’t have to wonder if the food we are buying is safe and we can’t assume that measures put in place in 1993 are still sufficient. The Food Safety Modernization Act gives federal inspectors the tools to bring E. coli monitoring and prevention up to date. Congress shouldn’t stand in the way.”
On the other hand, think of the money that safety costs and remember that everyone must die of something. Cost cutting comes first — doesn’t it?
— Emerson Lynn, jr.
