Are food recalls and outbreaks on the rise? FDA says U.S. food supply still “one of the safest in the world”
The U.S. food supply remains “one of the safest in the world” following a series of foodborne illness outbreaks, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday. organic carrots arrive deli meats arrive McDonald’s Quarter pound. E. coli, Listeria and other contaminants have sickened thousands and forced multiple recalls in recent months.
But despite these compelling examples, data Quote The FDA said last year’s recall rate was not unusually high.
In the fiscal year that ended in September, the agency’s Food and Cosmetic Division believed there were 179 recalls for highest risk Classification of issues, such as potential bacterial contamination or undeclared allergens.
That’s up from 145 high-risk recalls in 2023, but down from the 185 the agency recorded in 2022. There were 167 high-risk recalls in 2019.
This category includes recalls of tens of thousands of cases onion Officials suspected Taylor Farms was responsible for the fatal crash, and the plants were withdrawn earlier this fall. E. coli outbreak Something to do with the disgusting McDonald’s Quarter Pounder burger more than a hundred people.
“Our ultimate goal is for industry to do their part to ensure the food they bring to market is not contaminated. adulterated Or mislabeled. When something goes wrong, recalls help get food off the market quickly. Outbreak notifications provide important food safety information to the public,” an FDA spokesperson said in a statement.
The spokesperson also noted that The Economist Report Measuring global food security. The spokesperson said that the U.S. food supply is “one of the safest in the world” and “tied for first place in food safety indicators in 2022.”
In fact, the FDA says the number of recalls is an indicator that the safety system is working.
“Recalls and outbreaks mean manufacturers, importers and distributors are monitoring problems and taking action when they are identified,” an FDA spokesperson said.
The number of diseases increases in CDC data, but so does the number of tests
Data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show the number of high-profile recalls has increased over last year, but not by much.
So far this year, 10 “Multistate Foodborne Illness Outbreak Notice” Published by CDC. There were nine notices last year. A total of 24 notices were issued in 2018, the most in the past 10 years.
Infections from foodborne disease outbreak culprits such as Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) have climbed to at least 13,962 cases this year, the CDC says Record consistent.
At this time last year, the health department reported approximately 13,140 cases, and at this time in 2019, 12,119 cases were reported.
foodborne illness In recent years, viruses related to other bacteria have also spread across the country, Report The CDC’s FoodNet system suggests that improvements in the way patients detect these bacteria may help explain some of the increase, though.
“Changes in laboratory technology can affect what we see in surveillance data. When laboratory testing becomes faster, it becomes more specific and in other ways better. This makes the data comparable. It’s a little less robust,” Sharon Shea, senior director of food safety for the Association of Public Health Laboratories, told CBS News.
Shea, who also worked as a microbiologist in hospital laboratories and public health laboratories, said other ways in which public health departments and doctors respond to foodborne outbreaks have also improved.
Some of this is a time-saving shift to “molecular-based” panel testing, which can be performed by hospitals and clinical laboratories against a range of bacteria, rather than the one-time tests introduced after 2012 for specific pathogens.
Labs in the CDC-led PulseNet network have also switched to “Whole Genome Sequencing” Shea said it’s a more accurate way to narrow down the unique genetic fingerprints that link disparate cases together for investigators. These connections are crucial in discovering common foods eaten by sick people during the outbreak.
“The most preventable, unnecessary death”
Food safety advocates outside government say the U.S. still has plenty of room for improvement in food safety.
“It’s not helpful to say ‘Americans have the safest food in the world’ when people are dying from this disease. baby carrots” said Sarah Sorscher, director of regulatory affairs at the Center for Science in the Public Interest.
Thorscher acknowledged that public health departments have gotten better at investigating outbreaks, but warned that only a small percentage of foodborne illnesses are still being addressed.
“Thanks to advances in whole-genome sequencing and artificial intelligence, our public health systems are getting better and better at addressing outbreaks, so we’re probably seeing more icebergs now than we did just a few years ago,” she said.
Sorscher said staffing shortages and food safety concerns have also contributed to artificial declines in the number of recalls and reported illnesses during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Our food supply is not even as safe as it was five years ago. Anyone who has been to the grocery store or rifled through the refrigerator to see which onions and carrots in the produce drawer were the subject of the latest recalls knows this,” said Scott Farber (Scott Faber), senior vice president of government relations for the nonprofit Environmental Working Group.
Faber pointed out the previous Report Tracking the rebound in food recalls after 2020, according to data from the FDA and USDA.
Environmental Working Group says FDA inspections of food facilities fall short of congressional requirements debate. They also criticized the agency for not requiring testing of irrigation water sprayed on crops, which could cause contamination risk from a nearby animal farm.
“Unlike washing your hands or not cutting vegetables on the same cutting board as your chicken, they are just common sense steps to reduce the risk of foodborne illness. And these are the most preventable, unnecessary deaths imaginable,” Faber explain.
