Fixing Food Safety: Protecting America's Food Supply from Farm to Fork

Publication Date: April 2008

Publisher: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

Author(s):

Research Area: Health

Type: Report

Abstract:

About 76 million Americans—one in four—are sickened by foodborne diseases each year. Of these, an estimated 325,000 are hospitalized and 5,000 die. Medical costs and lost productivity due to foodborne illnesses in the U.S. are estimated to cost the nation $44 billion annually.

This RWJF-supported report by Trust for America's Health (TFAH) identifies major gaps in the nation's food safety system, including obsolete laws, misallocation of resources, and inconsistencies among major food safety agencies.

Among the findings:

* The U.S. food safety system has not been fundamentally modernized in more than a century.
* Most federal food safety funds are spent on the outdated practices of inspecting every poultry, beef and pork carcass—even though changing threats and modern agriculture practices and technology make this an unproductive use of government resources.
* Inadequate resources are spent on fighting modern bacteria threats, such as salmonella or dangerous strains of E. coli.
* In the past three years, the main food safety function at FDA has lost 20 percent of its science staff and 600 inspectors;
* Gaps in current inspection practices mean acts of agroterrorism, such as contamination of wheat gluten or botulism, could go undetected until they are widespread.
* While 15 federal agencies are involved in food safety, the efforts are fragmented and no one agency has ultimate authority or responsibility for food safety
* Only 1 percent of imported foods is inspected. Approximately 60 percent of fresh fruits and vegetables and 75 percent of seafood consumed in the U.S. is imported.
* States and localities are not required to meet uniform national standards for food safety.

The TFAH report follows a series of studies by experts raising concerns about America's food safety.

TFAH calls for a series of actions to help the nation modernize the food safety system by using strategic inspection practices and state-of-the-art surveillance.