食品汙染:行動的時候了

上周發布的一份新報告,美國疾病控製和預防中心顯示大腸杆菌感染增加50%自2004年以來,和一個巨大的弧菌感染增加78%——吃生貝類造成的——在過去的十年。中心估計,7600萬的美國人生病和5000年死於食源性危害每年在美國。5000人死亡的太多,它迫切需要及時關注政府和行業形式。誠然,可能有點樂觀呼籲完全根除所有汙染的情況下,但有很多改進的餘地。在過去六個月,有大麵積暴發與菠菜、生菜、西紅柿和花生醬,和消費者團體不僅是咆哮時表示,人們的信心在食品供應的安全已經嚴重動搖。結果也通過說服那些需要貨幣激勵承認問題。最近的菠菜大腸杆菌爆發,例如,導致整個行業估計100美元的損失,與銷售尚未完全恢複。和康尼格拉的花生醬沙門氏菌汙染也嚴重打擊了該公司。雖然康尼格拉並沒有揭示對其業務的全麵影響感染,一個粗略的猜測指出重大損失。獨自回憶,該公司表示,預計支付60美元。 Add to that the complete halt of production of its Peter Pan peanut butter - produced exclusively at the affected plant in Sylvester, Georgia - for a good six months, and the numbers start climbing. ConAgra plans to contract with a co-packer to get Peter Pan back on the shelves in July while its own plant is being renovated, but a huge chunk of the firm's $150m annual sales in peanut butter - of which Peter Pan forms the large majority - has already been eaten away. Together with the lives of at least four consumers. A better tracking system for food contamination would go some way to reducing the damage caused by such cases, but an absolute priority needs to be better systems for prevention. This means a more uniform food safety network, more stringent regulation and more federal funding pumped into the FDA to make it all possible. Under current law, food safety monitoring, inspection and labeling functions are spread across 15 agencies in the federal government, including the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) which oversees meat, poultry and egg products; the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) which oversees most other food products; and the US Commerce Department's National Marine Fisheries Service which inspects fish. The agencies collectively administer at least 30 laws. The nation's General Accounting Office in February called on legislators to radically amend the food safety system, which it said is fragmented, ineffective and inefficient. One solution, it said, was to consolidate regulatory insight. New proposed legislation was introduced in 2005 in an effort to achieve just this. Senator Dick Durbin and Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro's Safe Food Act would include regular, but random, inspection of all food processing plants; categorized review process for all foods to monitor and inspect them based on their risk, not their name; increased oversight of imported foods; and established requirements for tracing foods to point of origin. As we have unfortunately witnessed, self regulation just doesn't cut it any more. Voluntary guidance or industry self regulatory schemes is a short sighted answer to a growing problem that calls for immediate and permanent solutions, according to Consumers Union. But while we can only hope that the government will take necessary action, food manufacturers need to do everything in their power to protect their consumers and their business. ConAgra said it”計劃來解決這種情況”。現在的公司是完全翻新並重新設計其工廠原材料和成品分開,以及任命全球食品安全行政和形成一個食品安全谘詢委員會。這些都是積極的舉措,它隻是一種恥辱他們需要由災難引起。從錯誤中學習是好的,但防止他們更好。洛林海勒FoodNavigator-USA的編輯,是一個專業的作家在食品工業問題。有國際焦點,她生活和工作在英國,塞浦路斯和法國。如果你想要評論這篇文章,請電子郵件lorraine.heller特'decisionnews.com