Feds' Alphabet Soup Hinders Food Safety

Some Experts Say The Government Isn't Doing Enough To Assure Safety Of The Food Supply

(CBS)  After eating tainted spinach last September, Lisa Brott — a dedicated fitness buff at age 50 — found herself hemorrhaging blood, CBS News correspondent Wyatt Andrews reports.

"I was very critical for several days, I was in the ICU," Brott says. She was suffering from kidney failure. Brott was in the hospital 13 days with her organs shutting down.

"E. coli is a very aggressive, dangerous bacteria," Brott says.

After E. coli in produce caused two huge outbreaks last fall, you might think the federal agency in charge of E. coli would have a prevention plan by now. You'd be wrong — and here's why.

"There's no one in charge in the federal food safety system," says Mike Taylor, a former USDA and FDA food safety official.

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Taylor says the nation's food safety system is broken — a hodgepodge where the USDA inspects meat, but the FDA inspects milk. The USDA regulates chickens, but when a chicken lays an egg, that's the FDA. The EPA regulates pesticides in food, the CDC and National Marine Fisheries are involved. All told, 12 federal agencies have a role in food safety.

Worse, Taylor says most food safety money — 80 percent — goes to the USDA, which visually inspects meat in slaughterhouses, while millions of Americans actually get sick from the invisible germs in produce.

"The basic allocation has nothing to do with who's getting sick, and it's out of proportion to where the actual risks in the food supply," Taylor says.

During the past 10 years, Congress has been warned again and again that the food safety system is an organizational mess that does not fully protect consumers. But the spinach outbreak has led to new calls for reform. One idea: Create a single food agency to finally put someone in charge.

Sen. Dick Durbin, the second-ranking Democrat in the Senate, says he thinks a single food agency would have traced the last outbreak more quickly. He says under one agency, money could be focused on disease prevention.

"When you consider 75 million Americans with food-borne illnesses each year, I do believe a better, more modern, streamlined agency would reduce those numbers. And it means that more people would survive," says Durbin, who on Wednesday will introduce a bill to bring all food safety under a single agency.

Brott calls it unacceptable that Congress has tolerated so many sick Americans.

"It's outrageous so many people are poisoned by food," Brott says. "A lot more has to be done, whatever it takes, to protect people's health."

One casualty of last fall's outbreak was consumer confidence in fresh food. Too many Americans like Brott ate their greens — and paid for it with a trip to the hospital.

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The series "Safe Enough to Eat?" continues Wednesday on the CBS Evening News with a look at how farm workers are suiting up like surgeons to keep the food chain contamination-free.

The series continues Thursday on The Early Show, with a report on whether food served in school cafeterias make the grade.

[jakish-2009]

The last line of defense is at home. Education is needed, not a single agency.

[wmsandy73]

I've worked for food companies nearly 30 years in R&D. One agency? Think Homeland Security-how's that working for you? Twelve agencies probably could be trimmed but not to 1. A study my company ran ~10 yrs ago examined what happens to frozen vegies during processing and distribution. The most damage is done by (1)the grocery store (2) the consumer. No food company or Gov. Agency can currently control how food is handled by these 2 groups. Education at the end of the food chain is paramount--food companies aren't the bad guys.

[bopro89]

Where does CBS get their facts that over a million people are affected by microbes in produce in the U.S. annually? 30 seconds after they report this a woman is shown at a produce counter handling several bunches of produce until she finds one she likes. Where have her hands been and how many millions of times a day throughout the U.S does that happen with fruits and vegetables in markets. Bottom line wash your fresh fruits and vegetables before you eat them and this includes packaged salads since they seem to be the culprit in most outbreaks of E-coli.

[madre10]

Shananagins!!!! There are not to many food inspection agencies. Each agency is respondsible for there own area. As far as fresh produce there are few inspections but this is not the fault of the agencies it is the fault of the government. How do you cut spending? you cut whereever you can. So get rid of jobs, right. I believe this to be the true nature of creating one agency. You have to really get into the situation and not just listen to one side to form an opinion. Our government was created so that we have a means of checks and balances. To give just one agancy complete control over such a massavie area would prove to be more of a problem then people persive now. Get real and do all the research before just jumping on a band wagon. Don't be lead like sheep.

[mgpm-2009]

I totally agree.

It can have different branches...I mean, there's a lot to do. There's the whole issue of food tampering/food terrorism. Inspection is key. Standards and practices. To me, drugs are a whole other area.

[moosbrth]

Another case of the US waste of money, 12 agencies to do 1 job, why not have one, the USFI Agency.

UNITED STATES FOOD INSPECTION Agency!

Thanks,

John