Charlottesville Personal Injury Lawyer - food

Botulism Fear Shelves Plum Organics’ Baby Food

Greg Webb — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 09:36:02 GMT

Plum Organics, a California-based company, recently announced that it is recalling its apple and carrot flavored baby food for fear of botulism poisoning. The company stated its product does not meet FDA requirements. While there have been no illnesses reported, the possibility is not taken likely; botulism is a rare, serious paralytic illness. The baby food packages in question are 4.22 ounce pouches with a sell by date of May 21, 2010; their UPC code is 890180001221. They were sold at Babies “R” Us and Toys “R” Us stores nationwide.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Greg Webb

FDA Commissioner Supports Direction of Food Safety Bill

Greg Webb — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 08:00:00 GMT

The new commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, Dr. Margaret A. Hamburg, entered the debate over how to fix the nation’s food safety system in her first appearance before Congress as commissioner recently. Dr. Hamburg told the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health that the safety legislation sponsored by several Democrats was moving in the right direction, but that the FDA would need more money to make it happen. Republicans complained about specific aspects of the measure that may go to a vote as soon as next week, highlighting the loss of the bipartisan consensus that had existed during earlier hearings.

The legislation blends provisions from bills offered by several Democrats, requiring that food manufacturers write and enact safety plans, pay an annual fee of $1,000 to the FDA, and track the distribution of all food products. In turn, the agency would be required to inspect all food facilities at least once every four years, inspecting high-risk facilities every year and a half. Dr. Hamburg noted that the registration fees will not provide enough funding to implement the legislation’s targets when evaluated realistically.

Texas Representative Joe Barton, the senior Republican on the full committee, said in March that he and the chairman of the committee, Democrat California Representative Henry Waxman, were in agreement on the subject of food safety. During the hearing, however, Mr. Barton said that the registration fees were too high and that a provision requiring food labels indicating country of origin was burdensome. He also objected to provisions that will expand the FDA’s powers, giving it the power to compel manufacturers to recall their products and subpoena manufacturing records. Mr. Waxman defended the fees as asking the industry to chip in to fund measures necessary to help avoid expensive recalls.

Pamela Bailey, president of the Grocery Manufacturers Association, told the committee that the industry was concerned about the size of the fees and their effect on the FDA’s credibility. Ms. Bailey issued a statement saying that while the industry is responsible for the safety of its products, securing the safety of the food supply is a government function which should be financed with government resources.

Dr. Hamburg also addressed the agency’s new safety review of bisphenol-A, a chemical used to harden plastics that is also known as BPA. Studies have suggested that BPA may accelerate puberty, but the agency concluded during the Bush administration that it wasn’t harmful at levels found in the American market. The FDA’s science advisory panel rejected that conclusion in October, and the new review is expected by the end of the summer.

Before the hearing, activists passed out fliers protesting increased levels of antibiotic-resistant bacteria due to the routine use of antibiotics in livestock. Dr. Hamburg said that the growing problem of antibiotic resistance was also a concern of hers. No decisions were made in this regard, however.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Greg Webb

Obama Advocates Food-Safety Overhaul

Greg Webb — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 17:48:59 GMT

President Obama has promised to strengthen and reorganize the nation’s food-safety system after declaring the government’s failure to inspect ninety-five percent of processing plants a “hazard to public health”. Obama has since announced the creation of a Food Safety Working Group, which includes the secretaries of agriculture and health, to generate coordination across federal agencies, advise him on which regulations and laws need to be changed, and ensure laws are enforced. Powerful members of Congress are additionally pushing to enact changes in the food-safety system.

Tom Vilsack, the agriculture secretary, also announced cattle that cannot walk, also called “downer cattle”, will be banned from slaughter. This system allowed the cattle that passed a pre-slaughter inspection, but were later injured, to be sold into the food system if a food inspector deemed the meat safe. Last year, only about 1,000 cattle out of the 34 million that were slaughtered got into the food supply with the exceptions. This case-by-case system is now eliminated.

About a dozen federal agencies share the responsibilities of ensuring the safety of the nation’s food supply. Critics and government investigators have said for years that this system needs major revisions. A debate on Capitol Hill has developed asking whether to boost food oversight at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or give these responsibilities to a single agency that would eventually compound the food-oversight duties of the other eleven agencies. Vilsack has seemed to support the idea of this joint agency to oversee everything, however President Obama’s position is unknown.

Last year the FDA only inspected 7,000 of the nearly 150,000 domestic food facilities and its oversight of foreign plants was even worse. For many years, experts have debated whether or not the FDA should attempt to increase the amount of inspections or rely on more detailed safety regulations and private auditors. Obama appears to believe government inspections should be increased. Public health experts estimate that every year about 76 million people in the U.S. become ill due to contaminated food; hundreds of thousands are hospitalized and about five thousand die.

Let us hope that this initiative is completed. Food safety has exteme importance beyond the most obvious reasons. It is also a matter of national security, and this should not be ignored. Moreover, we do not need any more ecoli or salmonella outbreaks, or worse. This initiative should not be relegated to a backburner, where the previous administration placed it.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Greg Webb

New Food Safety Bill Introduced In Senate

Greg Webb — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 13:00:41 GMT

In the Senate this past Tuesday, food-safety legislation, called the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Food Safety Modernization Act, was introduced, which would give the FDA new power to order recalls and open companies’ internal records for inspection. It is one of many proposals that are competing to rework food regulation and oversight. The legislation was proposed after the major recalls the United States has faced recently, such as peanut butter laced with salmonella and spinach infected with e-coli. The Senators who introduced the legislation claim these are not isolated incidents and are the result of an underfunded, outdated and overwhelmed food-safety agency.

Many manufacturers prefer this bill to the one proposed by Representative Rose DeLauro, which would allow government-mandated schedules of inspection, as well as creating a stand-alone food safety agency. Instead, the Senate’s Food Safety Modernization Act would be a risk-based approach to inspection. Manufacturers also believe the creation of a new agency would eat up the funds that should go towards improving the FDA’s current safety operations.

Let’s hope this bill gets some traction and gets passed in some form that actually helps improve our safety. It is clear that many federal agencies charged with oversight of consumer products, like the FDA and CPSC, are understaffed and underfunded. It is also clear that the recent "hands-off" approach has failed (see also the example of the SEC "regulating" our securities markets). The hands-off, market-regulating approach, while admirable, is a dream that cannot adequately work. Corporate greed is too strong, and too creative.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Greg Webb

Peanut Recall Needed Company Approval – FDA Has No Teeth

Greg Webb — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 08:00:00 GMT

Although a criminal investigation has begun regarding whether or not the Peanut Corporation of America deliberately sold contaminated products, the federal government still needed the company’s permission prior to announcing a huge recall of its products. Current rules require the wording of the recall statement to be approved by the corporation before the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) can publish it. Presently, the FDA relies on cooperation from food manufacturers even if they are undergoing criminal investigation. Some Democrats in Congress, however, are trying to get this changed by giving the agency more power to declare mandatory recalls without companies’ consent. Legislation is in the works that will split the agency’s food oversight into a separate entity, which will have mandatory recall authority and other powers.

President Obama has also promised to completely review FDA operations because he does not believe the agency has caught problems as quickly as they should. Obama will soon announce a new FDA commissioner and other officials who will institute a “stricter regulatory structure” in order to prevent failure in food-safety inspections. Part of this review will determine whether the requirement for the peanut company’s approval caused delays in warning the American public, which created safety hazards.

Public health officials pinpointed the contamination as originating from the Blakely plant January 9. The peanut company announced a limited recall on January 13 and expanded it on January 16. However, the company waited until January 28 to recall all of its products made in 2007 and 2008 even though it had known since 2007 that tests of products showed traces of salmonella. The dangers were well known to health officials, but nothing could be done about removing the products until the Peanut Corporation of America decided on the recall. More than five hundred people have become sick after the salmonella poisoning outbreak and eight have died. More than 340 peanut product brands have been recalled.

The fact that the FDA cannot compel a recall under these circumstances is astounding. The system is broken and it needs to be fixed. Let's hope that the new Congress and President will give the FDA some teeth in these types of life and death situations.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Greg Webb