The Wall Street Journal just published an article that notes the FDA has concluded that food poisoning is becoming more prevalent. According to the article, yearly over 75 million cases of foodborne illnesses are reported. Additionally, over 300,000 people each year are hospitalized for some type of food poisoning and 5,000 people die as a result of these illnesses.
What is causing this increase in foodborne illness outbreaks? The article cites several reasons. First, scientific advancements make detection of food poisoning more effective. Secondly, bacteria are evolving and new food contaminating organisms are being discovered. Thirdly, some consumers have begun demanding items such as unpasteurized milk and juice as opposed to safer, pasteurized products, which can be contaminated with Campylobacter, Salmonella, and E. coli bacteria if not processed correctly.
Additionally, increased imports of food products have created new food safety concerns. Other countries do not have the same food safety standards as the U.S. Also, some food products, which were never previously associated with food poisoning, have recently been implicated in foodborne illness outbreaks. Examples include flour in the Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough recall and black pepper that has possibly been linked to a Salmonella outbreak associated with Italian sausage products. The flour in the Nestle recall was found to have been contaminated with E. coli O157:H7. As a result, Nestle now uses heat treated flour to prevent bacterial contamination. On the other hand, the Italian sausage recall, although still under investigation, has a possible linkage to imported black pepper. Daniele International, the company at the center of this recall, has now moved to utilizing irradiated black pepper in hopes that it prevents the spread of bacteria such as Salmonella.
Currently, there is new legislation which would beef up (pun intended) the FDA’s food regulatory powers. Also, improved regulation of imported food items has to be established. This means providing consumers with access to a diverse array of food items while simultaneously ensuring that these foods are contaminant free. The FDA needs additional tools to regulate imported goods to help prevent the spread of foodborne illness outbreaks such as have previously been associated with E. coli and Salmonella.
Richard J. Arsenault, 2010
Your argument is essentially meaningless since you neglected to cite ANY of the sources from which you obtained your information, aside from your reference to an unspecified article published in the Wall Street Journal.