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Jeffery Martin / CC0 1.0
By Erik D. Olson and Lena Brook
We live in partisan times, as anyone who had to sit through Thanksgiving dinner with distant relatives can probably attest. But even your crazy uncle would agree that the safety of our food shouldn't be a partisan issue. No one wants their child to get sick from eating a hamburger, chicken, or—in the case of the current E. coli outbreak—romaine lettuce. Yet last week's empty Thanksgiving salad bowls are a harbinger of what's to come if our federal government does not start taking food safety seriously.
<p>Unfortunately, the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/">Trump</a> administration's attacks on policies meant to ensure our food is safe to eat are already impacting the health of our families. In fact, 2018 has been a banner year for food-borne disease, with <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/outbreaks/multistate-outbreaks/outbreaks-list.html" target="_blank">22 food safety investigations</a> undertaken by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) so far. That's the most alerts in at least a dozen years, and the administration's plans to delay and weaken rules aimed at reducing the risk of produce contamination mean more outbreaks are likely.</p><p>Indeed, this <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/ecoli/2018/o157h7-11-18/index.html" target="_blank">latest <em>E. coli</em> outbreak</a> is the second involving romaine lettuce in 2018 (and the third in the last 12 months). The current crisis, which began in October, has sickened more than 40 people in 12 states, from California to Ohio to New Hampshire. More than 20 <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/public-health-notices/2018/outbreak-ecoli-infections-linked-romaine-lettuce.html" target="_blank">Canadians</a> have also been sickened, indicating that we're exporting our health threats to other nations. Romaine lettuce from California's Central Coast is at the center of this outbreak, according to the CDC. </p><p>While the cause of the latest incident remains a mystery at this time, a different <em>E. coli</em> <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/ecoli/2018/o157h7-04-18/index.html" target="_blank">romaine outbreak</a> earlier this year—which killed at least 5 people and sickened at least another 210—was likely caused by contaminated irrigation water, <a href="https://www.fda.gov/Food/RecallsOutbreaksEmergencies/Outbreaks/ucm624546.htm" target="_blank">possibly from a massive factory farm nearby</a>. A cattle feedlot located next to the irrigation canal may have been the source, but the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) did only limited testing and didn't confirm the connection. In the blunt words of one <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/08/the-poop-of-100k-cows-may-be-to-blame-for-that-deadly-romaine-e-coli-outbreak/" target="_blank">headline</a>, "The Poop of 100K Cows May Be to Blame for That Deadly Romaine <em>E. Coli</em> Outbreak." Great, just what we all wanted in our salad.</p><p>The real tragedy is that produce safety rules created by the Obama administration to protect against that very thing—contaminated irrigation water—were set to go in effect in January 2018. But under substantial political pressure from corporate agriculture, Scott Gottlieb, President Trump's head of the FDA, <a href="https://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Speeches/ucm575499.htm" target="_blank">announced</a> in September 2017 that the agency planned to suspend testing and inspection requirements aimed at ensuring that irrigation water for leafy greens and vegetables is not contaminated with manure. Keeping manure out of irrigation water is critical, of course, to keeping food safe. The FDA not only is proposing to delay implementation of these requirements until 2024, but is also expected to relax many of its protections.</p><p>The Trump administration's efforts to weaken food safety standards do not end with greens and vegetables. Granting big meat and poultry producers' longstanding wish, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) under Trump has also green-lighted industry plans to allow <a href="https://www.safetyandhealthmagazine.com/articles/17565-usda-announces-criteria-for-allowing-poultry-processors-to-operate-at-faster-line-speeds" target="_blank">chicken</a> slaughterhouses to speed up inspection lines. It has <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trump-s-latest-regulatory-overhaul-raises-food-safety-fears-n839926" target="_blank">proposed</a> doing the same for pork slaughterhouses, making it harder for inspectors to review each carcass and increasing the risk of disease outbreaks and worker injuries. In fact, under the Trump plan, USDA inspectors will be expected to inspect and ensure the safety of an astounding <a href="https://www.safetyandhealthmagazine.com/articles/17565-usda-announces-criteria-for-allowing-poultry-processors-to-operate-at-faster-line-speeds" target="_blank">175 chickens per minute</a> and more than <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trump-s-latest-regulatory-overhaul-raises-food-safety-fears-n839926" target="_blank">1,106 hogs per hour</a>. Don't try this at home.</p><p>Meanwhile, industrial-scale livestock operations have become a ticking time bomb for <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/antibiotics">antibiotic</a>-resistant <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/superbugs">superbugs</a>, as the U.S. industry feeds its animals <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/resources/antibiotic-consumption-us-pork-beef-and-turkey-industries-vastly-outstrips-comparable" target="_blank">nearly twice as much</a> medically important antibiotics as its European counterparts. Antibiotic overuse in livestock is contributing to a public health crisis in America, with at least two million people afflicted by antibiotic-resistant infections a year, leading to more than 23,000 deaths. The current romaine lettuce outbreak involves a strain of <em>E. coli</em> that isn't treated with antibiotics. However, numerous other food-borne disease outbreaks have been triggered by antibiotic-resistant bacteria, such as the recent <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/salmonella/reading-07-18/index.html" target="_blank">35-state outbreak</a> of multidrug-resistant <em>Salmonella </em>from turkey that sickened 164 people, hospitalized 63, and killed at least one person.</p><p>Additional protections for our food supply could be next on the chopping block, falling victim to Trump's executive order requiring two regulations to be revoked for every new rule. <a href="https://www.nrdc.org" target="_blank">NRDC</a> and its partners are <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/court-battles/public-citizen-natural-resources-defense-council-and-communication-workers-america-afl" target="_blank">fighting</a> the arbitrary two-for-one order in court, noting that it creates a false choice between food safety and other safeguards.<br></p><p>The fact is, the tired argument made by Trump's minions that food safety and other environmental rules are <a href="https://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Speeches/ucm575499.htm" target="_blank">too costly</a> doesn't hold up under scrutiny. The White House's own <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/draft_2017_cost_benefit_report.pdf" target="_blank">analysis</a> shows that environmental safeguards and other commonsense rules deliver a good return on the investment in our future, with produce safety rules yielding an estimated $900 million dollars in benefits from the avoidance of food-borne illness, at a substantially lower cost.</p><p>The Trump administration seems to be making a different calculation, betting that the public won't notice how weaker protections are making their food less safe. The budget to carry out the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2011, the first major strengthening of the FDA's food safety program in 70 years, falls far short of what the agency has said is necessary to fully implement the law. Neither the Trump administration nor Congress is moving to adequately fund it in 2018 or 2019.</p><p>These increasingly frequent bacterial outbreaks serve as a wake-up call that protecting our food supply needs to be a top priority. Regulatory rollbacks, lax enforcement, and inadequate food safety budgets are hurting families. Putting our children's health first—that's something we could all be thankful for.</p>
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Health agencies say avoid romaine lettuce as they investigate an E. coli outbreak. Agricultural Resources Service / USDA
If you're hosting Thanksgiving tomorrow, be sure to leave romaine lettuce off the menu! The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are warning everyone to avoid the classic salad green until investigators can pinpoint the exact source of an E. coli outbreak that has sickened 32 people in 11 states.
The FDA advised Americans to stop eating romaine and to toss any that's left in the fridge. Restaurants and retailers should also stop serving it until more is known.
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</p><p>"The quick and aggressive steps we're taking today are aimed at making sure we get ahead of this emerging outbreak, to reduce risk to consumers, and to help people protect themselves and their families from this foodborne illness outbreak. This is especially important ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday, when people will be sitting down for family meals," FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb said in a <a href="https://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/ucm626351.htm" target="_blank">press release issued Tuesday</a>. "We want to get this information out to consumers early. While we've made progress, it's still early in this investigation and work remains to pinpoint the source of contamination that contributed to this outbreak and allow us to employ more targeted measures to reduce future risk."<br></p><p>Cases so far have been reported in California, Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio and Wisconsin. The particular strain causing the outbreak is called Shiga toxin-producing <em>E. coli </em>O157:H7, according to the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/ecoli/2018/o157h7-11-18/index.html" target="_blank">CDC alert</a>. It has sent 13 people to the hospital so far, and no one has died.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xODkxODYyNi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTU5MjA2MDExNn0.kkADDGMhMsE0lWpslR9T6j9MgjWGkDOCY1UAhMPApZA/img.jpg?width=980" id="dee90" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="06c52fc3c960703be07f7b9e60c8e066" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="add caption...">A map of states where illness has been reported</small><small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="add photo credit...">CDC</small></p><p>Illnesses began on Oct. 8, and the last reported case was on Oct. 31. It usually takes about two to three weeks for someone to report an illness after first getting sick, so more people might have been infected since then, the CDC said. Public health workers believe romaine is the culprit because 79 percent of the 14 infected people interviewed so far said they ate romaine lettuce in the week before getting sick, but researchers have not yet been able to pinpoint a specific grower, supplier, brand or distributor to issue a recall. </p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xODkxODYzMS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzNTIyNzYxNH0.Vy-RyhHvMFBnql4Vaj86_E59_BL-VAM15ENObjOAAIc/img.jpg?width=980" id="55127" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="940a2ebe2afb613b4eb39844beba15f9" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="add caption...">A timeline of the outbreak so far</small><small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="add photo credit...">CDC</small></p><p>The outbreak has also crossed the border into Canada, where 18 people in Quebec and Ontario have been infected so far.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
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</p><p>This isn't the first time salad has made people sick in the U.S. and Canada. The strain of this outbreak has a similar DNA fingerprint to one in 2017 that was linked to leafy greens in the U.S. and romaine lettuce in Canada.<br></p><p>The symptoms of Shiga toxin-producing <em>E. coli</em> kick in two to eight days after initial infection. They usually include stomach cramps and bloody diarrhea, and sometimes a fever of 101 degrees or lower, according to the <a href="https://www.fda.gov/Food/RecallsOutbreaksEmergencies/Outbreaks/ucm626330.htm" target="_blank">FDA</a>. It usually clears up after five to seven days, but 5 to 10 percent of people who get it develop hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a potentially life-threatening condition. The FDA explains:</p><blockquote>Symptoms of HUS include fever, abdominal pain, feeling very tired, decreased frequency of urination, small unexplained bruises or bleeding, and pallor. Most people with HUS recover within a few weeks, but some suffer permanent damage or die. People who experience these symptoms should seek emergency medical care immediately. Persons with HUS should be hospitalized because their kidneys may stop working (acute renal failure), but they may also develop other serious problems such as hypertension, chronic kidney disease, and neurologic problems.</blockquote><p>If you think you are coming down with <em>E. coli, </em>the CDC advises that you:</p><ol class="ee-ol"><li>Talk to your doctor.</li><li>Write down what you ate the week before you got sick.</li><li>Alert the health department.</li><li>Answer any questions public health employees ask you about your illness.</li></ol>
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50+ Groups Back Landmark Effort to Halt 'Out of Control' Factory Farming in Iowa
09 February 2018
Animals
Tim Geers / Flickr
By Jessica Corbett
More than 50 groups are demanding that Iowa lawmakers urgently pass landmark legislation to enact a moratorium on factory farm expansion in a state that is home to more than 10,000 of them.
<p style="">"Across the nation, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/factory-farming-pigs-2522752633.html">factory farming</a> destroys communities and contaminates drinking water supplies and air quality," said Krissy Kasserman, the national factory farm campaigner at <a href="https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/" target="_blank">Food & Water Watch</a>, one of the groups behind the effort. "A stop to the expansion of factory farming needs to happen now. It <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/iowa--factory-farms-2530551992.html">begins with Iowa</a>."</p><p style="">In a <a href="https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/sites/default/files/iowa_sign-on_letter_support_moratorium.pdf" target="_blank">letter</a> to members of Iowa's General Assembly on Thursday, dozens of local, state and national groups wrote that a ban on new and expanded factory farms would give lawmakers "an overdue opportunity to evaluate the public health, economic and societal impacts of factory farms while providing Iowa's communities with important statutory protections from further expansion of this industry."</p><p>"Iowa is in the midst of a serious water pollution crisis," the letter declares, citing <a href="http://www.iowadnr.gov/Environmental-Protection/Water-Quality/Water-Monitoring/Impaired-Waters" target="_blank">research</a> from 2014 that found 750 bodies of water in the state, or more than half tested, contained pollutants or showed other conditions tied to factory farming‚ "including E. coli, excessive algal growth and diminished aquatic life."</p><p style="">The letter chastises the <a href="https://www.epa.gov/" target="_blank">Environmental Protection Agency</a> and state officials who, for decades, "have failed to regulate the environmental impacts of factory farms," and illustrates how existing regulations are "failing Iowa's communities" with a series of examples:</p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">Family farmers and rural residents are often left feeling like prisoners in their own homes, unable to hold family gatherings or hang laundry outside to dry due to the overwhelming stench and air pollution. Retirees are left with the realization that their homes and properties—often their nest eggs—are depreciated due to the decline in property values associated with living next to a factory farm. Research has shown that Iowans living near factory farms are more likely to experience respiratory problems, headaches, diarrhea, burning eyes, nausea and more serious health problems as a result of factory farm air pollution.</p><p>Cherie Mortice, board president of <a href="http://iowacci.org/" target="_blank">Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement</a>, said even though "state agencies and lawmakers are failing to protect our communities and environment," it is "clear to Iowans that the factory farm industry is out of control." She noted that the state is "seeing a massive expansion" in factory farming, and warned: "we're at a tipping point and need to put a stop to this industry immediately."</p><p style="">Food & Water Watch <a href="https://www.factoryfarmmap.org/" target="_blank">maps out</a> where factory farms are most concentrated in the country:</p>
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<p style="">In an editorial exploring multiple policy proposals, including a moratorium, the Des Moines Register <a href="https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/opinion/editorials/2017/09/29/hog-wild-iowa-pork-industry-growth/716489001/" target="_blank">wrote</a> last fall that "pressing pause may be the only way Iowa can catch up to this fast-growing industry." The newspaper pointed to <a href="https://www.nass.usda.gov/Newsroom/2017/09_28_2017.php" target="_blank">a U.S. Department of Agriculture</a> report that showed a "record number of hogs and pigs were on Iowa farms as of Sept. 1: 22.9 million, up 3 percent from a year ago," and noted, "That's about 7.3 times more pigs than people in the state."<br></p><p>"Our call for a moratorium is a call for the return of plain, old common sense," explained Chris Peterson, an independent Iowa hog farmer and regional representative for the Socially Responsible Agricultural Project, another signatory on the letter. "Iowa is suffering under the enormous weight of a business that has no respect for the people, environment, animals and future of the state."</p><p><em>Reposted with permission from our media associate <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/02/08/50-groups-back-landmark-effort-halt-out-control-factory-farming-iowa">Common Dreams</a>.</em></p>
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By Sandra Eskin
Three days before 2018 arrived, officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced they were investigating a foodborne E. coli outbreak that ultimately resulted in one death and sickened at least 25 people in 15 states. "Leafy greens" were identified as the likely source, but the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) continues to work with state and local partners to determine the specific products that made people ill and where they were grown, distributed and sold, all with the goal of finding points where the E. coli contamination might have occurred.
<p style="">This outbreak highlights the importance of the ongoing implementation of the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). Food safety—overseen by FDA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture—should remain a priority for federal policymakers this year. We already saw a <a href="http://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/analysis/2018/01/10/large-farms-must-act-to-reduce-fresh-fruit-and-vegetable-contamination" target="_blank">major step forward</a> in produce safety in January as FDA's first enforceable food safety standards for fresh fruits and vegetables took effect on large farms. </p><p style="">Here are four other food safety policy developments expected in 2018:</p><p style=""><strong>1. </strong><strong>Enhancements to FDA Recalls</strong> </p><p style="">The same week that the CDC announced its E. coli investigation, the inspector general for the Department of Health and Human Services, of which FDA is a part, released a <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/12/26/inspector-general-report-fda-food-recalls-dangerously-slow-procedures-deeply-flawed/975701001/" target="_blank">report</a> that concluded the agency "did not always have an efficient and effective food-recall process." These faults at times translated into delays in the removal of unsafe products from the marketplace. FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb <a href="https://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm590423.htm" target="_blank">responded</a>, in part, with a pledge that the agency would act in 2018 to speed up recalls, including the release of new guidance on recall communications with consumers. One change under consideration is publicly disclosing information about the retail and food service locations that sold or served recalled products. Currently, the agency often considers these details exempt from disclosure. The <a href="http://www.pewtrusts.org/en" target="_blank">Pew Charitable Trusts</a> and other public health advocates have <a href="http://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/analysis/2017/09/25/with-foodborne-outbreak-linked-to-imported-papayas-consumers-need-retailer-information" target="_blank">urged FDA</a> to adopt a clear and consistent policy to provide such facts so Americans can more easily determine if they may have bought or eaten contaminated foods and can take steps to protect their families.</p><p><strong>2. </strong><strong>Hog Slaughter Modernization</strong></p><p>On Jan. 19, USDA released a proposed rule that would shift how certain <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/pork-regulations-2528276299.html">hog slaughterhouse duties</a> are divided between employees of the department's <a href="https://www.fsis.usda.gov/" target="_blank">Food Safety Inspection Service</a> (FSIS) and the companies that own the hogs. Similar to a 2014 <a href="https://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/wcm/connect/00ffa106-f373-437a-9cf3-6417f289bfc2/2011-0012F.pdf?MOD=AJPERES" target="_blank">USDA rule</a> covering poultry plants, the proposal would allow FSIS inspectors in hog slaughter establishments that opt into the program to perform more duties away from the animal processing line, such as overseeing a facility's compliance with sanitation and prevention-based food safety regulations. The facility's employees would take on some of the duties previously handled by FSIS employees, such as carcass sorting and removal. <a href="http://www.nationalhogfarmer.com/business/stamp-approval-given-modernized-swine-inspection-proposal" target="_blank">Pork industry groups</a> have expressed strong support for the USDA's intent to make these changes, although some <a href="https://delauro.house.gov/sites/delauro.house.gov/files/Hog-HIMP-Letter-1-19-16.pdf" target="_blank">members of Congress</a> and <a href="https://consumerfed.org/in_the_media/deregulation-food-safety/" target="_blank">consumer advocates</a> have raised concerns that the proposal would jeopardize food safety, as well as the welfare of animals and slaughterhouse workers.</p><p><strong>3. </strong><strong>Food Safety Funding</strong> </p><p>In his fiscal year 2018 budget request, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/">President Trump</a> proposed a change in how meat and poultry inspections are funded from appropriated dollars to user fees collected from businesses overseen by FSIS. Congress rebuffed the idea in its fiscal 2018 spending bills, but the administration may again advance the proposition in the president's fiscal 2019 budget, scheduled for public release on Feb. 12. For many years, <a href="https://delauro.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/delauro-farr-call-omb-and-hhs-nix-user-fees-and-fully-fund-fsma-0" target="_blank">lawmakers</a>, <a href="http://www.nationalhogfarmer.com/business/industry-opposes-new-user-fees-meat-and-poultry" target="_blank">meat and poultry companies</a> and <a href="https://consumerfed.org/press_release/statement-of-cfas-carol-tucker-foreman-on-settlement-of-nebraska-beef-case-and-funding-food-safety-with-user-fees/" target="_blank">consumer advocates</a> have strongly objected to any shift in the funding mechanism from a taxpayer-supported, general good to a program funded directly by the regulated industry. Meanwhile, with bipartisan support in Congress, FDA's food safety program has received funding increases for six years running as it implements FSMA. However, this portion of the budget could be targeted for cuts in fiscal 2019.</p><p><strong>4.</strong> <strong>Reauthorization of the Farm Bill </strong></p><p style="">Congress typically takes up a broad package of farm legislation that includes everything from crop insurance to nutrition assistance and conservation programs about every five years. The current law—the Agricultural Act of 2014—expires Sept. 30. In limited instances, a farm bill has included policies related to meat and poultry safety. That last happened in 2008, when the law created a program that allows facilities inspected by state authorities (rather than by FSIS) to ship products across state lines. At this time, it is unclear whether the next iteration of the federal law will contain meat and poultry safety-related provisions.</p><p style=""><em>Sandra Eskin directs The Pew Charitable Trusts' work on food safety.</em></p>
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