Is the USDA truly promoting safe food for all Americans?

An assessment of today’s food safety legislation in the United States

What is available in a supermarket?

Some background information in order to better grasp the issue of food safety legislation

Where does our meat come from?

Where does our milk come from?

How safe are the processed foods available on the market?

?

Genetically Engineered FoodHigh Fructose Corn SyrupBovine Growth Hormone

and what else???

?

Thesis statement

The food safety laws that the USDA and other federal

food agencies are issuing are insufficient in assuring

the consumer that the products they are buying are

safe.

What is the current state of food legislation in the US

Why are these laws insufficient and inadequate?

Food Safety Legislation in the US:

I. What is working with the current food safety legislation?

II. What still needs to be worked on?

III. Conclusion: assessing the efficiency and sufficiency of US food safety legislation

Outline

Food Safety Legislation Today

i. What is Food Safety Legislation and what do these laws say?

Key actors

FOOD SAFETY AND INSPECTION

Meat, poultry, and egg products inspection laws

“The activities these bureaucracies undertake may be divided into regulation of plant/factory sanitation, product inspection, restaurant

inspection, consumer education, and compilation of disease outbreak statistics. These activities are shared by regulators at the federal, state, and local levels. In the federal government, fifteen agencies have legal mandates to provide food safety, with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the CDC playing major roles (Walker 2007).”

YASUDA, TOMOHIDE. "Food Safety Regulation in the United States: An Empirical and Theoretical Examination." Independent Review 15.2 (2010): 201-226. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 24 Feb. 2011.

Food safety activities

OUTBREAK: the CDC defines an outbreak as “the

occurrence of two or more cases of a similar illness resulting from the ingestion of a common food” (CDC 2000). This definition makes the statistics comprehensive enough to be “the basis for public health action”(CDC 2000)

For example, after an E. coli O157:H7-contaminated hamburger outbreak in 1993 that killed four children, both the FDA and the USDA introduced several new regulations (Golan et al. 2004, 10)

Key concepts

“Be Food Safe means preventing foodborne

illness through four easy steps: Clean, Separate, Cook and Chill.” (USDA 2010)

USDA food safety education

bacteria, germs, cross-contamination, defrosting, safe-microwaving…

BUT what about ingredients? Labelling? Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs)?

Milk standards? Food sources?

Shouldn’t these factors also be regulated by food safety laws?

Are these safety regulations sufficient?

The larger implications of food safety laws on the consumer’s health

Key words:

Transportation

Allergies

Contamination

Illnesses

Food protection

“Product Specific Information”

MILK SAFETY

New methodological tactic: looking at what is unsafe but allowed

Unsafe ingredients

Food category Unsafe component

Meat Additives, preservatives, what the animal is fed

Milk Bovine Growth Hormone (rbGH)

Fruits and vegetables Can be genetically modified

Wheat Can be genetically modified

Processed food Hydrogenated vegetable fats BHA, BHT:Butylated HydroxyAnisoleTrans-fatsHigh fructose corn syrup (HFCS)

Focus on

High Fructose Corn Syrup (processed foods, cookies, sweets)

Bovine Growth Hormone (milk)

GMO or other ingredient (TBD)

Link to the UNC community/ student population

3 Unsafe Ingredients

High Fructose Corn Syrup

John S. White, et al. "A Critical Examination of the Evidence Relating High Fructose Corn Syrup and Weight Gain." Critical Reviews in Food Science & Nutrition 47.6 (2007): 561-582. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 1 Mar. 2011.

Bovine Growth Hormone

Keep doing the detective work

Explore the unsafe food components that are found in food and how they are regulated

Assess the larger implications of food safety on health, accessibility, prices

Can the USDA and other food agencies change their structure to make it more health-oriented?

Work left to do

Thank you for your attention!