The widespread Listeria outbreak traced back to cantaloupe from a Colorado farm has now claimed the lives of 23 individuals and caused 116 illnesses in 25 different states. It’s the deadliest outbreak of foodborne illness in 25 years, and public health advocates say it underscores the need to increase federal funding for food inspections and food safety support for state, local and federal agencies.
In January of this year, President Barack Obama signed into law the bi-partisan Food Safety Modernization Act, landmark legislation that would overhaul the nation’s food safety system and protect U.S. families from eating contaminated food. The law grants the Food and Drug Administration greater regulatory authority over the nation’s food supply. Unfortunately, the FDA has been underfunded for years and needs sufficient funding to act on regulations in the new law that could save lives by keeping our food safer.
On Wednesday, the American Public Health Association and fellow members of the Make Our Food Safe Coalition sent a letter to the Senate asking for a stronger federal commitment to support the FDA and other federal agencies to ensure safe food.
“Providing critical food safety resources to FDA and USDA is essential to help these agencies prevent such outbreaks from occurring in the future,” the groups wrote. “Prevention can in turn save billions of dollars in losses, both to individuals as well as to companies, due to deaths, injuries, product recalls and slumps in the sale of related food products.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, each year one in six Americans gets sick from foodborne illnesses.
2 comments
omgitsamelia says:
Oct 26, 2011
The government should definitely make sure that the FDA and USDA is properly funded, and is doing their job correctly. Of all the technologies available to us, we cannot guarantee that all illnesses that we come across can be cured. Doing our best to avoid these issues is essential to the nation’s health. Illnesses are not reversed as easily as they are prevented. We must be healthy in order to move forward as a nation, and it all starts with making sure sources of nourishment are not contaminated.
Jade says:
Oct 27, 2011
One of the most crucial ways of staying healthy is influenced by our diet, specifically the products we choose to consume. I strongly believe that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) should receive more funding from the government in order to guarantee the high quality and safety of our food supply. I feel safer knowing that the foods I eat will not harm my body due to the thorough inspections it underwent before packaging for distribution. The outbreak of Listeria, a fatal foodborne illness originally found in cantaloupe, is a key concern for consumers nationwide as people continue to fall victims to the contaminated fruit. I think the government should focus on correcting current issues and weaknesses in the food system because what is the point of worrying about future problems when we can attempt to fix the ones we have? It is shocking that one in six people become ill from foodborne illnesses each year, and to think I’ve been so naive believing that I was invulnerable to illnesses pertaining to food. Recently I’ve been reading food labels and trying to be more attentive about the preparation and consumption of the foods I eat because of my values of health and education. Although this type of news can cause panic and lead to other myths about certain fruits, the public should be aware of both the health benefits and risks of food products.