New Food-Contamination-Notification Law In the Works: But Does it Go Far Enough?

The safety of at least a portion of the nation’s food supply took the first step on the road back to reliability with the initial approval of a new measure by Georgia lawmakers requiring food makers in that state to alert state inspectors within 24 hours when internal tests show that products contain salmonella or other contamination.

Until now, Georgia did not require companies to notify state inspectors when internal tests done by the food companies themselves came up dirty for food-borne bacteria. That kept the state and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which relies on state inspectors to keep tabs on many food-processing facilities, in the dark about outbreaks of salmonella and other types of deadly bacteria.

The new state rules, signed off on by Georgia’s Senate Agriculture Committee on February 12, 2009, must still gain final approvals before becoming state law. They come on the heels of a devastating outbreak of salmonella linked to peanuts, peanut butter, and other contaminated peanut products made at a Georgia plant operated by the Peanut Corp. of America.

Federal officials say the Georgia facility operated flew for years below the radar of state and federal inspectors, producing contaminated peanuts now blamed for at least nine deaths, more than 600 illnesses, and one of the largest food recalls in U.S. history.

If the measure becomes law, Georgia would become a pioneer in food safety, since officials said no other state currently requires food manufacturers to share internal data with state inspectors. However, the law would only apply in Georgia.

Empowering State Inspectors

The bill, which now goes to the full state Senate for debate, would give Georgia agriculture officials the power to order plants to have their products tested at their own expense. The measure also allows state officials to decide how often the plants should test for contamination.

Meat, poultry, and other manufacturers under the watch of the U.S. Department of Agriculture would be exempted from the new Georgia rules. The notification requirements and other rules would apply only to thousands of facilities which fall under the scrutiny of the Food and Drug Administration, which relies on Georgia state inspectors to police facilities there.

While there is no sure way to ensure that companies are reporting data from self testing, companies found to have withheld or concealed the reports could face felony charges that carry a prison sentence of up to five years, officials said.

If We Had Known Sooner …

Federal food-safety officials have said if they had known about positive tests for salmonella at the Georgia food processing plant dating back as far as 2006, the deadly outbreak could have been prevented or, at least, detected earlier. The new measure requiring notification within 24 hours is designed to speed up the response to such outbreaks of food-borne bacteria.

Peanut Corp. officials could face federal criminal charges stemming from their handling of the salmonella outbreak. The company is accused of knowingly shipping out peanut products containing salmonella because it wanted to make a profit on food products that would otherwise be wasted.

Peanuts and other raw materials processed at the plant were sent to thousands of other food-makers, including Kellogg, and packed into in federal free-school-lunch programs and emergency food kits for victims of natural disasters.

A Good Start, But …

The measure in Georgia to require food makers to alert state officials quickly about food contamination is a good idea and should pick up steam to spread nationwide. There is no reason why this law should apply only to Georgia food processors. Millions more Americans are still exposed to potentially deadly food contamination under their current state laws, which do not require such notification of state officials.

The Peanut Corp. plant accounted for just one percent of the nation’s supply of peanut products, officials have said, so while the company is to blame for the latest outbreak of salmonella, there is no telling who will responsible for the next one.

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