Stricter Food Safety Penalites Sought in New Legislation
Companies that knowingly violate food safety standards would face stricter penalties under a new bill introduced Thursday by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.). The Food Safety Enforcement Act would allow prosecutors to seek prison sentences of up to 10 years for companies who knowingly distribute contaminated food and would make it a felony offense to do so. In a press release, Leahy stated:
“Current statutes do not provide sufficient criminal sanctions for those who knowingly violate our food safety laws. The bill I introduce today would increase sentences for people who put profits above safety by knowingly contaminating the food supply. It makes such offenses felony violations and significantly increases the chances that those who commit them will face jail time, rather than a slap on the wrist, for their criminal conduct.”
The press release cites the 2009 Peanut Corporation of America Salmonella outbreak as an example of a case in which the company may have known the products were unsafe and distributed them anyway. Nine people were killed in that outbreak and hundreds more were sickened. The mother of one of the victims in that outbreak testified at an Agriculture Committee hearing on federal food safety oversight last year at Leahy’s invitation.
The proposed legislation is expected to be considered by the Senate Judiciary Committee, which Leahy chairs. “The Justice Department must be given the tools it needs to investigate, prosecute, and truly deter crime involving food safety,” Leahy stated. “This bill will be an important step toward making our food supply safer.”
E. coli Traceability and Eradication Legislation Proposed
Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) introduced legislation Thursday that would tighten testing regulations on meat and meat processing facilities. The goal of the E. coli Traceability and Eradication Act is to completely eradicate the dangerous Shiga toxin-producing E. coli bacteria, according to the announcement, and to establish tracking procedures meant to speed up the recall process if contaminated foods reach store shelves.
Some of the bill’s provisions include:
- Facilities will have to test ground beef and beef trim multiple times throughout the manufacturing process by an independent testing facility certified by the USDA.
- Facilities found to be producing unsafe products for three consecutive days or ten days in a year will have their company name posted on a list of safety offenders.
- A tracing protocol would be created for the USDA to track contaminated meat products.
- Facilities found producing contaminated meat products must have their products tested by the USDA for 15 consecutive days following the positive contamination test results.
Congresswoman DeLauro pointed out several other important features of the bill:
“Because this bill will require processors to test incoming beef trim, it would cease the current industry practice of processors being blackballed by their suppliers. Another important component of this bill is that, when E. coli is detected at a facility, it would require USDA to establish a traceback procedure all the way back to the original source of the contamination. This will allow USDA to recall products more quickly and prevent additional illnesses during an outbreak. Our current food safety system is not doing its job— contaminated meat is still hitting the shelves, and people are still getting sick. This legislation will establish higher standards for food safety and protect the public health.”
Minneapoils-based food safety lawyer Fred Pritzker commended DeLauro’s efforts and confirmed the need for more extensive testing and tighter regulations on American meat producers. “I see the reality of E. coli food poisoning cases every day. I represent people whose lives have been irreparably damaged by this dangerous pathogen. The consequences are too great for our policymakers to sit by the sidelines on this issue, and Rep. DeLauro has clearly recognized that.”
E. coli, Shigella and Salmonella Infections: How They Spread
The strains of E. coli, Shigella and Salmonella that cause illness in humans are what are called enteropathogenic bacteria. Pathogenic meaning they cause harmful infectious diseases and enteric refers to the fact that the infections they cause are in the intestine.
The enteric infections caused by these pathogens are dependent on whether the bacteria are able to colonize in the intestine. Research from a Brazilian university is helping to better understand the variety of “strategies” these pathogens use to multiply inside their hosts and infect them. According to the research:
“Diarrhea-causing pathogens employ a variety of sophisticated strategies to colonize the intestinal epithelium [tissue lining the intestine].” In essence, ingested pathogens have evolved the abilities to:
- Resist many of the host’s defenses such as stomach acidity, peristalsis, mucosal cell exfoliation, intestinal mucins, and bacteriocins
- Adhere to intestinal epithelia (tissue).
- Ultimately colonize that tissue.
Sometimes that colonization involves cellular invasion. When that happens, the bacteria can spread to other tissues in the host’s body. According to the research, the pathogens attack cells in the host’s body. “The host cell, in turn, defends itself against infection by initiating an inflammatory response and by altering the intestinal fluid balance in order to extrude the unwanted bacteria, thus causing diarrhea.” Therefore, whether the infection is “successful” depends upon complex interactions between the bacteria and the host cells. The bacteria’s mission, basically, is to exploit cell machinery for their own benefit.
Source:
http://www.gutpathogens.com/content/2/1/8
E. coli in Well Water Puts McLeod, ND Residents on Alert
Well water has tested positive for E. coli in the tiny town of McLeod, North Dakota, according to local news sources.
The water that supplies residents of this tiny town 55 miles southwest of Fargo comes from local wells that use groundwater. These wells have tested positive for E. coli contamination twice since 1986, news reports indicate. North Dakota state health officials plan on testing every well in the town on Monday.
E. coli Well Water Lawsuit
E. coli safety attorney Elliot Olsen recently settled a case on behalf of an Iowa toddler who became sick with E. coli poisoning after consuming the water that supplied the rural home her family rented. In May of 2007 she came down withsymptoms of an E. coli infection, including severe diarrhea and abdominal pain. She was hospitalized and her symptoms worsened as the pathogen infected her blood. She developed a condition called hemolytic uremic syndrome (E. coli HUS) that destroys red blood cells and keeps kidneys from serving their function as filters that remove waste from the bloodstream.
She was on dialysis and in the hospital for a month and still has long-term kidney damage even now, three years after her initial illness. She could need a kidney transplant later in life.
How Does E. coli Contaminate Well Water?
Because harmful strains of E. coli can live in animal and human digestive systems, they can therefore be found in animal and human waste. After any kind of precipitation—a rainfall, a snowmelt—E. coli from animal or human fecal matter can wash into groundwater, rivers, lakes and streams. This can consequently contaminate water sources and, if the water isn’t sufficiently treated, can make people seriously sick.
According to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):
- Over 15 million U.S. households rely on private, household wells for drinking water.
- If polluted ground water is consumed, it could cause illness. Ground water pollution can be caused by seepage through landfills, failed septic tanks, underground fuel tanks, fertilizers and pesticides, and runoff from urban areas.
- It is important that private ground water wells are checked regularly to ensure that the water is safe for drinking.
- Typically, private water systems that serve no more than 25 people at least 60 days of the year and have no more than 15 service connections are not regulated by the EPA.
Source: http://www.wday.com/event/article/id/36320/
Latest CDC Roundup Indicates 5,309 E. coli Cases for 2008
E. coli O157:H7 has been a nationally notifiable disease with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) since 1994. National surveillance for all Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) began in 2001.
This week, the CDC released its latest annual Summary of Notifiable Diseases and it covers calendar year 2008.
According to the report, there was a total in 2008 of 5,309 U.S. confirmed cases of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli. The report did not break down the total by serotype, but O157:H7 is dominant. The report does not analyze growth patterns, but when comparing to totals in the two previous years there has been an upward trend in total cases.
In 2006, the total number of U.S. confirmed cases of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli was 4,432. One year later, the total increased to 4,847.
Normally, cases spike in warmer months and drop off in early winter. That was the case in 2008 — as the breakdown showed 843 cases for August and 668 cases for July — the two highest monthly totals for the year. The lowest monthly total was 147 in February 2008.
You can see CDC’s 2008 Summary of Notifiable Diseases in its entirety on the CDC website.
Healthy cattle, which harbor the organism in their intestines, are the main animal reservoir of STEC. Most reported outbreaks are caused by contaminated food or water. During 2004, a substantial decline in reported O157:H7 STEC cases led to an incidence rate that met the Healthy People 2010 goal of less than 1 case per 100,000 population; since then, the incidence has increased.
