020501 More Food Poisoning Found at Schools

Washington - Food poisonings in the nation's schools are increasing at a rate of about 10% a year, according to a congressional study.

The General Accounting Office says that federal government should disclose its inspection records on food plants to the state and local agencies that buy food for schools.

Outbreaks have been traced to a variety of products, from strawberries to hamburgers.

In 1999, the latest year for which data are available, there were 50 school- related outbreaks reported nationwide with 2,900 illnesses, GAO said.

Officials don't know how many outbreaks were caused by lunches served in cafeterias as opposed to food kids brought from home, but it is believed that school-provided meals were the culprit in a majority of cases.

Of those outbreaks with a known cause, most were linked to salmonella bacteria and Norwalk-like viruses.

In 1998, burritos produced in Chicago are believed to have sickened 1,200 children nationwide. In 1997, more than 300 children in five states became ill after eating strawberries harvested in Mexico and processed in California.

The government has put price above safety in purchasing foods and that has "resulted in school lunches becoming a dumping ground for ground beef and other agricultural products of questionable safety," Cheryl Roberts of Comer, Ga., said in testimony prepared for a congressional hearing.

Her son, then 11, became seriously ill in 1998 after eating an undercooked burger contaminated with E. coli O157:H7.

The Agriculture Department heavily subsidizes school lunches and buys some of the food, while state and local agencies purchase the rest. USDA "provides little guidance" to those agencies to ensure that the food they are buying is safe, GAO said.

GAO officials also faulted the government's regulatory system for food. USDA regulates meat, while the Food and Drug Administration has responsibility for most other foods. Neither agency has authority to require companies to recall tainted products.

Creating a single agency to regulate food "would go a long way" toward improving its safety, GAO said.

"Contaminated food is particularly dangerous to school-aged children because this population is among those with the highest risk of contracting a serious illness resulting in hospitalization or death," said Caroline Smith DeWaal of the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

Nationwide, food poisonings have been on the decline.

Preliminary data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention earlier in April showed substantial drops in the rates of illness from six of seven major types of food-borne bacteria from 1996 to 2001. The rate of E. coli illnesses fell 21%, salmonella 15% and listeria 35%.

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