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As a contributing editor at culture, a consumer cheese magazine, I meet and interview a lot of cheesemakers, so last year’s dairy closures and cheese recalls definitely hit close to home. Literally. I work part-time in a Seattle cheese shop, and by now I’m used to the frequent FDA-bashings from my customers.
Understandably, the closures of Washington State’s Estrella Family Creamery and veteran cheesemaker Sally Jackson’s facility struck a nerve in the Pacific Northwest, and our clientele are dismayed that they can no longer purchase some of their favorite cheeses. I feel the same way, as well as sadness that these small family operations have been forced to

Remember “freedom fries”? That’s what the House Republicans, when they were last in the majority, renamed french fries, after France refused to support the invasion of Iraq. It seems like renaming fries might be just about the extent of food regulation that some in Congress are willing to support.
The new Republican majority threatens a barrage of investigations. California Republican Darrell Issa is the new chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Issa has been tweeting about the subjects he intends to investigate: “CONTINUED INITIAL OVERSIGHT INVESTIGATIONS LINEUP: WikiLeaks, the safety of American food/medicine and effectiveness of @FDArecalls …”
The timing of his tweet on food safety was impeccable, coming just one day before President Barack Obama was scheduled to sign into law the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, one of the last bills passed by the House before Congress recessed in late December. The new law will give the Food and Drug Administration authority to order a food recall, among other tools intended to protect people in the U.S. from foodborne illnesses. Believe it or not, before now, the FDA could only recommend a recall, not order one.
The new law won’t come in time to help Shirley Mae Almer. She died Dec. 21, 2008, after becoming infected with salmonella, which she contracted from tainted peanut butter. Almer and at least eight others died of the illness, caused by King Nut peanut butter and other products made using infected nuts from the Peanut Corporation of America. Two years have passed since Almer’s death, and her family has just filed suit in federal court. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports at least 714 people were sickened by the outbreak in 46 states. The CDC says foodborne illnesses cause millions of people to get sick every year, sending 128,000 to the hospital and killing 3,000–that’s more than eight people a day.
The American Public Health Association, a member of the Make Our Food Safe coalition, celebrated the bill, which, it writes, “will finally begin to address the dangerous gaps in our nation’s woefully outdated food safety system.” Just because a bill is signed into law, though, doesn’t mean it will get funded. Republicans in Congress can still hold up funding (as it seems they will do for sections of the health insurance reform law passed last year). Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Ga., who sits on the Appropriations subcommittee that funds the FDA, told The Washington Post: “No one wants anybody to get sick, and we should always strive to make sure food is safe. But the case for a $1.4 billion expenditure isn’t there.”
Really? It’s comforting to know that Kingston doesn’t want anybody to get sick. But that doesn’t alter the fact that millions do. When it comes to food safety, as with airline safety, mine safety, pick an industry: Regulations save lives.
Nevertheless, Darrell Issa, reported Politico, sent letters to 150 trade associations, companies and think tanks, seeking advice on which regulations to investigate. An excerpt of the letter, posted by NBC News, read: “I ask for your assistance in identifying existing and proposed regulations that have negatively impacted job growth in your members’ industry. Additionally, suggestions on reforming identified regulations and the rulemaking process would be appreciated.”
The Issa approach is similar to that of the new chair of the House Financial Services Committee, Spencer Bachus, R-Ala., who told The Birmingham (Ala.) News, “In Washington, the view is that the banks are to be regulated, and my view is that Washington and the regulators are there to serve the banks.”
It should be clear now why the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and its member corporations poured so much money into the election. A new survey done by the Union of Concerned Scientists shows a large number of government scientists and inspectors believe corporate interests are undermining food safety in the United States.
Darrell Issa is the wealthiest member of the House, with a net worth of at least $160 million. He earned it from the Viper car alarm system–you know, the one that blares (in his own voice), “Step away from the car.”
Chairman Issa, protect the American people–step away from the corporations.
Denis Moynihan contributed research to this column.
Amy Goodman is the host of “Democracy Now!,” a daily international TV/radio news hour airing on more than 900 stations in North America. She is the author of “Breaking the Sound Barrier,” recently released in paperback and now a New York Times best-seller.
2010 Amy Goodman

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Salmonella in eggs, peanuts, tomatoes, and spinach; and melamine in pet food and candy imported from China… With a regularity that has become downright terrifying, the food safety system in the United States has given us ample evidence that it has broken down completely. And so, in a small miracle of legislative activism, Democrats in Congress finally mustered the will and the votes to act, passing H.R. 2751 yesterday, not for the first time, but for the second time in the Senate and the third in the House. (A mistake on a technicality–Senate failure to follow an arcane procedure that allows everyone to pretend the bill it just passed originated in the House, where all tax legislation is required by the Constitution to begin its journey into law.)
Many people deserve credit for this December miracle, although my hat is especially doffed for Representatives John Dingell (D-MI) and Henry Waxman (D-CA) in the House and Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL). Dingell, the longest serving member of the House, had taken to calling the legislation “my bill” as in “where’s my damn bill?” growled with warm ferocity to his staff whenever the matter arose in his mind during the long months of waiting for the Senate to take action.
The new law covers the 80 percent of the American diet–everything but beef and poultry–that is regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The old law it replaces was so weak that it did not give the agency authority to order recalls of poisoned food. Instead, the agency had to depend on the voluntary cooperation of food processors. The situation was so unbearable that a rare coalition evolved, including the Grocery Manufacturers, consumer groups, the Center for Science in the Public Interest, and the Pew Center’s project on chemicals and food.
The new law gives the FDA dramatically expanded authority to inspect, recall, and punish the purveyors of tainted food. It even goes so far as to require the FDA to inspect all the food processing facilities in the U.S. a minimum number of times–the first time Congress has been that prescriptive in instructing an agency how to do its job in any health, safety, or environmental status other than the law that requires the Department of Agriculture to have a representative present whenever cattle are slaughtered. Finally, the law requires importers of food from abroad to certify that it was produced under standards equivalent to the American system, a very tall order considering the strange origins of food we import from places like China, where regulation is non-existent.
But we have too many statutes on the books these days that have become dead letters because the agencies charged with the responsibility of implementing them have such scarcity of resources that they cannot even make a respectable start on exercising their new authority. If the new Republican majority in the House decides not give the FDA enough resources to get a grip on its new responsibilities, this major health and safety accomplishment of this troubled Congress will be undercut.

Source:www.huffingtonpost.com

‘Tis the season of good cheer, endless hors d’oeuvres and mile-long holiday buffets. But as I wander from party to party, balancing a glass in one hand and a paper plate in another (and praying no one spills eggnog on my taffeta dress!), I’m followed by a nagging little voice: Are those gooey, half-baked Christmas cookies tainted with Salmonella? Could those smoked salmon canapés send me to the hospital? Is there E. coli in that spinach salad or Listeria in those raw-milk cheeses? Talk about a buzz kill. Ever since my mom and about 300 others once got serious Salmonella poisoning from contaminated mayonnaise that was served at an event, I’m extra careful about what I eat.
Related: Take Our Poll: How Safe Is Your Kitchen? Learn what you can do to protect yourself and your guests from food poisoning.
10 Expert Food Rules You Should Follow
So I was thrilled when I heard this recent news: on Tuesday, November 30 the Senate passed (by a whopping 73-25) the much-anticipated FDA Food Safety Modernization Act. As Dr. Michael Jacobsen, head of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, writes in his blog on EatingWell.com:
Related: 5 Common Foodborne Bacteria to Avoid
The new act would give the FDA power to inspect problem producers much more frequently, do mandatory food recalls and raise the safety standards for both domestic and imported foods. According to the Centers for Disease Control more than 5,000 people a year die from foodborne illnesses and hundreds of thousands more become ill. And until now, recalls have been “voluntary.” Puhlease! Isn’t it time that we held food manufacturers more accountable and inspected the sketchy ones more often than every 5 to 10 years? Isn’t it time that we stop playing Russian Roulette at the buffet table?
Related: 10 Ways to Make Our Food Supply Safer
The Act, which still needs House approval, is a first step toward a better food-safety system. The United Kingdom’s Food Standards Agency is taking things even further; on November 30, it announced a new rating system that will help Britons choose where to eat out or shop for food by giving information about the hygiene standards in restaurants, pubs, cafes, fast-food outlets, hotels, supermarkets and other places. You can search for food businesses and their hygiene ratings at food.gov.uk/ratings. Green stickers show hygiene ratings (zero to five stars) for various outlets. Five stars is a top rating. One or two stars? You might want to cook at home.
Related: Is Your Supper Safe?
And if you are cooking at home, don’t forget these cardinal rules of food safety: Be smart and keep food apart. Use separate cutting boards. Wash your hands frequently. Never leave raw foods unrefrigerated for an extended time.
Related: 10 Kitchen Rules You Should Always Follow—How Many Do You Break?
Now, pass those deviled eggs!
By Lisa Gosselin
Lisa Gosselin is the editorial director of EatingWell Media Group, publisher of the award-winning EatingWell Magazine, books such as EatingWell 500-Calorie Dinners and EatingWell in Season: The Farmers’ Market Cookbook, EatingWell.com and EatingWell Custom Publishing. She lives in Vermont, near EatingWell’s headquarters and Test Kitchen.
Related Links from EatingWell:
Food Safety 101: What to Do At the Store, At Home & More
6 Healthy-Sounding Foods That Really Aren’t
5 “Bad” Foods You Should Be Eating
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Over the last two years, food producers large and small, consumer and public health groups, and Congressional leaders have come together to support legislation that would bring the most significant update to food safety laws in seven decades. To the chagrin of everyone who worked hard to get S. 510, the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (and the Tester/Hagen Amendment), passed out of the Senate Monday, the bill is now facing a significant uphill battle.
The future of S. 510, which received broad bipartisan support (73 yeas 25 nays), is now in jeopardy due to a provision in the bill that would allow the FDA to impose fees on importers, and on companies whose food is recalled because of contamination. It now appears that S. 510 must be reconsidered in the Senate so it can be brought into compliance with Article 1, Section 7 of the U.S. Constitution, which says all revenue-raising measures must originate in the House. However, finding floor time for the bill is looking less and less attainable since Senate Republican leaders are saying their caucus won’t vote on any bills until Bush Era tax cuts are extending to the uber-rich. This means that the passage of S. 510 may not happen before the lame duck session ends.
Further lampooning the legislation is Senator Tom Coburn’s (R-OK) threat to filibuster a vote if the bill returns to the Senate floor. A staunch opponent of the bill, one can recall Sen. Coburn’s speech on the Senate floor two weeks ago when he argued that lawyers (myself included) are all the food safety regulation Americans will ever need.
Now is not the time to let politics get in the way of a piece of legislation that was unanimously voted (Yes, Sen. Coburn too) out of the Senate H.E.L.P. committee over a year ago. Those of us who have followed this historic Act from the time it was introduced to the moments just last week when we quivered in anticipation watching Senate cloture votes on C-SPAN understand that the current version of the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act qualifies as a real piece of bi-partisan legislation that addresses a tangible and important national problem.
You may ask, “What’s the rush? Can’t we just wait it out?”
Not a chance. 2010 is almost over and realistically 2011 is shaping up to be the most politically contentious year since Obama took office. For any legislation that means more roadblocks and more politics. Translation, “Anyone who believes this bill will pass if it is introduced during the next Congressional session is in ‘La-La Land’.”
The bottom line, though, is this bill is a work of compromise and it is on the precipice of failure because of abhorrent politicking by Mitch McConnell and Co. This bill was passed and all were satisfied and ready to move until a technical flaw was noticed (a flaw not seen by Senate Republicans and Democrats alike over the last year of debate). Now is the time for our Senate and House leaders to do what they need to and finish what they started. Let’s fix the flaw and do it now.

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Source:www.huffingtonpost.com