Salmonella Outbreak in Peanut Butter Shows Food Safety System Flaws
Posted on: Thursday, 15 February 2007, 18:00 CST
WASHINGTON, Feb. 15 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Consumers Union commends Senator Richard Durbin and Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro for their leadership once again in introducing the Safe Food Act, a bill that will establish a single food agency with enhanced powers.
"The health and well being of American consumers is too important to allow the status quo to continue -- a patchwork system of 15 agencies administering at least 30 laws, all having some piece of the regulation of food safety," said Sally Greenberg, Senior Counsel at Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports magazine.
"The current system has proven to be inadequate to the task of keeping consumers safe, with all too frequent salmonella and E coli outbreaks, all time high rates of campylobacter contamination in poultry, and millions of Americans falling sick each year from related food borne illness," added Greenberg.
"A single food agency with enhanced powers could conduct more systematic inspections, would have authority to recall hazardous food products, could conduct enforcement actions against violators, and could allow for tracing of hazardous food products back to plants or suppliers. Consumers Union supports this legislation and looks forward to working with its sponsors to see it enacted into law."
"One food agency with strong powers would be better positioned to prevent problems like the recent salmonella outbreak in peanut butter," added Greenberg.
Consumers Union is calling for the creation of a single food agency to ensure adequate, efficient, and effective oversight of our nation's food supply. Consumer Reports magazine, published by Consumers Union, frequently researches and tests food for safe consumption.
Consumers Union
CONTACT: Jennifer Fuson, +1-202-462-6262, fusoje@consumer.org, or SallyGreenberg, +1-202-631-2301, both of Consumers Union
Source: PRNewswire-USNewswire
Related Articles
- Consumers Union to Convene November 17th Patient Safety Forum to Highlight Lack of Progress in Reducing Deadly Medical Errors
- Texas Instruments' single-chip power management units for portable electronics cut board space in half
- Inference Data LLC Announces U.S.-European Union (EU) Safe Harbor Certification
- Consumers Union Report: Almost 100,000 Surgical Patients Didn't Get the Right Infection Prevention Care During Year Studied
- Consumers Union Calls for Annual Inspection of Food Plants in Wake of Peanut Butter Recalls; Says Obama Call for FDA Review 'Good News' for Consumers
- Consumers Union Supports Proposed Expansion of Medicare Policy to Withhold Payments to Hospitals That Harm Patients
- Consumers Union Advertising Effort Puts Human Face on Victims of Weak Prescription Drug Safety Laws
- Consumers Union Calls for Single Agency to Ensure Safety of Nation's Food Supply
- Sen. Clinton, Medicare Dir. McClellan, Join Consumers Union on Need for Unbiased Information on Effectiveness, Cost of Rx Drugs
- Hungary Praised for Safe Operation of Nuclear Power Plant
 |
 |
User Comments (0)
RSS Feeds