New Act to Enhance E.coli Inspection

The move follows graphic reports in the New York Times and otehr media about the number of cases of e.coli infection and hteir consequence to human health.

The new legislation will for the first time mandate E. coli inspections of all ground beef.

At present responsibility for enforcing America's food safety measures is shared by 15 federal agencies - with the FDA and USDA responsible for the bulk of the oversight.

However, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is often limited to reactive regulations once outbreaks have already begun instead of preventing contaminations from spreading, and risking the safety of our food and the health of millions.

Senator Gillibrand's plan to improve food safety is aimed at streamlining and strengthening regulations at the USDA and FDA.

Senator Gillibrand said her new law will also alter the fundamental approach to food safety by focusing on prevention to catch food-borne illnesses, and more quickly preventing further illness when an outbreak is detected. The Gillibrand Food Safety Plan is:

1. Strengthen Inspection and Surveillance

Improve Testing of Ground Beef

During a 2008 industry-wide sampling of all ground beef produced, the USDA found that 0.32 per cent of ground beef was contaminated with E. coli - nearly 1 in every 300 samples. Ground beef is especially vulnerable to E.coli because its source material is not from a single cut of meat, rather, it is a compilation of trimmings from many parts, including fat that lies near the surface of possibly contaminated hide.

While some grinders that process ground beef voluntarily test the meat before and after grinding, there is currently no federal requirement for grinders to test their ingredients for E. coli.

To reduce the risk of E. coli ending up in the hamburgers and other food we eat, Senator Gillibrand has writteng the E. Coli Eradication Act - new legislation that would require all plants that process ground beef to test their products regularly, when it is ground and again before it is combined with other beef or ingredients, such as spices, and packaged.

If ground beef is found to be contaminated, the bill requires the company to properly dispose of the contaminated batch, or cook the meat to a temperature that destroys the e.coli.

Improve Regulation of All Other Food

Ground beef is not the only food infecting people with E. coli and salmonella. Fruits and vegetables can also be contaminated.

Senator Gillibrand is co-sponsoring the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act - legislation authored by Senator Dick Durbin that would make comprehensive improvements to the safety of fruits and vegetables, and help prevent outbreaks before they start.

• Focusing on Prevention requires all facilities to establish preventive plans to address hazards upfront, prevent adulteration, and give the FDA access to all of these plans and procedures.
• Expanding Access to Records gives the FDA access to the records of all food processing facilities.
• Establishing Oversight of High Quality Testing Laboratories, would grant the FDA authority to check the credibility of the laboratories testing the safety of food, requiring the labs to report all of their findings to the FDA, and certify that foreign food facilities comply with US food safety standards.
• Improving Detection, will increase inspections at all food facilities, including annual inspections of high-risk facilities, and inspections of all facilities once every four years; enhancing food-borne illness surveillance systems to improve the collection, analysis, reporting, and usefulness of data on food-borne illnesses; and creating a pilot project to test and evaluate new methods to quickly and accurately track and trace fruits and vegetables in the event of a food-borne illness outbreak.
• Enhancing US Food Defense Capabilities will help food companies protect their products from intentional contamination, and commence a national strategy to protect our food supply from terrorist threats, and rapidly respond to food emergencies.
• Increase FDA Resources increases federal investments to give the FDA all the resources it needs to implement comprehensive food safety improvements.
• Improving Safety of Imported Food will cover the 15 per cent of America's overall food supply that is imported from overseas, including 60 per cent of fruits and vegetables and 80 percent of seafood.

America imports $5.2 billion worth of food from China alone - including 10 per cent of the country's shrimp. In 2007, the FDA issued important alerts for five kinds of farm-raised fish and shrimp from China due to unsafe additives, inadequate labeling and poor manufacturer registrations, as well as potentially harmful veterinary drug residues in farm-raised fish and shrimp.

To ensure the safety of food the US imports matches the standards of food grown and processed in America, Senator Gillibrand is calling on the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to hire inspectors to protect consumers from contaminated imported food as a priority.

In 2003, when the DHS took over the inspection of agricultural products on the border, the position of "agriculture specialists" was created. While the number of people in this position has been slowly increasing, the US is still one-third short of the number of specialists needed to test the ever increasing array of agricultural products coming into the country.

The overall agricultural inspection rate for cargo has declined from nearly 70 per cent in 2001 to about 40 per cent in 2008 and down to 13 per cent for passenger inspections.

The senator said that better inspections will not only protect humans from pathogens, but will protect American farms from agricultural pests and disease.

Additionally, Senator Gillibrand said she will work to require importers to verify the safety of foreign suppliers and imported food by allowing the FDA to require certification for high-risk foods, and deny entry to a food that lacks certification, or that is from a foreign facility that has refused US inspections.

2. Improve Recall Response

Recall Contaminated Food in School Lunches

Last month, in response to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report that revealed federal agencies are not adequately alerting schools about recalls, Senator Gillibrand introduced the Safe Food for Schools Act - legislation that would protect the 31 million schoolchildren who participate in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast programs by requiring federal agencies to issue proper alerts to schools.

Making Recalls of Contaminated Food Mandatory will give additional improvements to US food recall processes, Senator Gillibrand said she will work with her colleagues to give the FDA the authority to order a mandatory recall of a food product when a company fails to voluntarily recall the produce upon FDA's request. At present, recalls are only voluntary.

3. Improve Public Education

To make sure information about food-borne illnesses and recalls is distributed accurately and efficiently, Senator Gillibrand is putting forward the Consumer Recall Notification Act - legislation that would direct the Secretaries of the Department of Health and Human Services and the USDA, as well as the Commissioner of the FDA to improve communication among states, state and local health departments, food distributors and vendors to provide consumers with faster and more complete information.

Specifically, the legislation would:

• Provide information to health professionals to improve diagnosis and treatment of food-related illness;
• Develop a procedure to distribute regional and national advisories concerning food safety;
• Allow the FDA to share trade secrets, and commercial or financial information, and its list of registered facilities with other federal, state, local and foreign agencies - provided those agencies can assure confidentially of the information;
• Allow the FDA to share confidential information with the public when necessary to protect public health;
• Develop standardised formats for written and broadcast advisories;
• Mandate on-site notification of a recalled product by posting notification in the freezer case or shelving unit where the product is, or has been sold.