Outbreak in Europe May Revive Stalled U.S. Effort to Tighten Rules on Food Safety

[alp227]

Source: The New York Times

The deadly wave of food-borne illness in Europe, caused by a rare form of E. coli bacteria, could finally push the United States to take long-delayed steps to protect the food supply in this country from a similar group of toxic organisms.

Food-safety advocates hope the federal government will act soon to ban the sale of ground beef if it contains any of six dangerous strains of E. coli that have increasingly been found to cause illness in the United States — a step that regulators have been considering for at least four years in the face of stiff industry opposition.

The outbreak in Europe could also bring more scrutiny of the produce industry. Investigators believe the outbreak was caused by contaminated vegetables, but they have not been able determine which type. So far, the authorities say, more than 1,700 people have been sickened, including 6 Americans, and at least 18 people have died.

For now, the focus in this country is on beef, since E. coli lives in the guts of cows.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/04/business/04prevent.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&pagewanted=all

[sunwyn]

1. I thought funding for food safety was to cut by House Rethuglicans

[No Elephants]

10. When? Democrats controlled Congress from January 2007 through January 2011.

A








n







y




t



Democrats could have reversed anything Republicans cut before January 2007.

The old Democrat v. Republican paradigm works less and less reliably anymore. Now. it's the rich and the governments controlled by the rich v. the rest of us a lot more often than it is simply Republican v. Democrat.

[no_hypocrisy]

2. Does genetic modification fall into the category of "toxic organisms"?

It better.

[Odin2005]

8. Yes, because those GMO E. coli that make insulin for diabetics are so dangerous!

:sarcasm:

[WatsonT]

12. Bwahahahahahahaha

No but pixie dust does!

[eilen]

3. I believe this falls under the US FDA category of

Thinning the Herd.

[Scottybeamer70]

4. E.coli.............does not

grow on vegetables! The veggies were contaminated by the meat industry! Go to the source.

[valerief]

5. +1 gazillion

[WatsonT]

13. Or by people

We culture quite a bit of the stuff. All is fine when it stays where it belongs.

Also, without manure for fertilizer what are you going to use for your veggies?

Tremendous amounts of chemical fertilizers, or GMO crops that don't need so much care?

[DesertDiamond]

6. Supporting smaller, nonindustrial farms and home gardens would be a step in the right direction.

[suffragette]

7. "stiff industry opposition" to this testing and regulation

And there we have it. Not about safety, not about the public interest, but instead about protecting corporate interests.

Interesting to look at recent articles like this one from that perspective:



http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/two-us-e-coli-cases-tied-to-european-outbreak/2011/06/02/AGoNkOHH_story.html

The bacterium that has killed more than a dozen Europeans, sickened nearly 2,000 more and raised international alarms would be legal if it were found on meat or poultry in the United States.

If the bacterium were to contaminate fruits or vegetables grown here, there would be no way to prevent an outbreak, because farmers and processors are not required to test for the pathogen before the food heads to supermarkets.

“If somehow this strain got into that same environment and spread rapidly, it would represent a major disaster in terms of the U.S. food industry and risk to humans,” said J. Glenn Morris, a former official with the U.S. Department of Agriculture who directs the Emerging Pathogens Institute at the University of Florida. “The regulatory framework is a couple of steps behind.”

~~~
USDA officials said they have been studying the extent of new and emerging strains of E. coli in meat, the practicality of testing for them and whether to ban them. At the FDA, which has never required testing produce for the bacteria, officials are working on new standards that might include such testing.

[saras]

9. E. Coli is fecal bacteria - it shouldn't be on meat OR vegetables

Factory farming.

If you can't butcher an animal without getting shit in the meat, you've got no business butchering an animal, let alone hundreds of thousands of them.

[bemildred]

11. German hospitals swamped with E.coli victims

HAMBURG, June 5 (Reuters) - German hospitals are struggling to cope with the flood of E.coli victims, health minister Daniel Bahr said on Sunday, as scientists remain puzzled by the deadly bug that has killed 19 and infected 1,700 people across Europe.

Hospitals in the northern port of Hamburg, epicentre of the outbreak that began three weeks ago, have been moving out patients with less serious illnesses to handle the surge of people stricken by a rare, highly toxic strain of the bacteria.

"We're facing a tense situation with patient care," Bahr told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper on Sunday. He added hospitals outside Hamburg could be used to make up for "insufficient capacity" in Germany's second largest city.

http://af.reuters.com/article/cameroonNews/idAFLDE75405720110605