000140 US national food safety plan due in July

A final version of the plan, due to be sent to President Bill Clinton in July, will aim to find a broad range of ways to improve the safety of the nation's food supply from farms all the way to the dinner table.

A draft plan was discussed at a public meeting on Wednesday that drew some 150 representatives of state health departments, scientists, food companies, and consumer groups.

“The plan under development aims to establish priorities on the basis of risk and to create an integrated, seamless food safety system,” said Catherine Woteki, undersecretary for food safety at the U.S. Agriculture Department.

As many as one in every three Americans is sickened annually by foodborne illness, with overall hospitalization costs ranging up to $3 billion, according to some federal estimates.

Salmonella, campylobacter, E. coli 0157:H7 and listeria are the most common causes of tainted food. They can cause diarrhea, nausea, fever and other symptoms that are especially dangerous for young children, the elderly and others with weak immune systems.

At the meeting, dozens of suggestions were offered to the President's Council on Food Safety, ranging from tighter restraints on animal waste, classes for food workers, and publishing annual data on foodborne illnesses throughout the nation.

Several state officials urged the panel to make greater use of state and local food inspectors to fill in the gaps left by the Food and Drug Administration's chronically underfunded inspection division.

Some consumer groups criticized the draft plan for failing to call for a single food safety agency.

“It doesn't tell us who is in charge of food safety, and who is accountable if things are not done,” said Caroline Smith DeWaal, food safety expert with the Center for Science in the Public Interest. “There is no single regulatory approach in this document.”

A dozen federal agencies are now involved in various aspects of food safety.

Most responsibility lies with the USDA, which monitors meat, poultry and eggs, the FDA oversees most fruits, vegetables and processed foods, and the Environmental Protection Agency, which watches pesticides and water quality.

The food industry is staunchly opposed to any move to consolidate all food safety regulation into a new agency. It contends that coordination among existing agencies can make the system work better.

“While enhancements to the effectiveness and improvements to the coordination of this system should be sought, the current system has been highly effective in protecting consumers,” said Rhona Applebaum, vice president of the National Food Processors Association.

Nancy Donnelly, who heads STOP, a group of victims of foodborne illness, said she was concerned about whether Congress would pay for greater food safety.

“These ideas in the draft food safety plan sound terrific on paper but where is the funding going to come from?” said Donnelly, whose six-year-old son died from eating a contaminated hamburger.

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