OUR FOOD SYSTEM
After a long hard day of work you sit down in your comfortable recliner
and open up your favorite snack. But when you reach into grab a piece, you pull
out a dead bug. Suddenly many thoughts come into your mind, you wonder how did
the bug get there and was it dead or alive. Is it harmful or carry a disease.
You ask yourself did the bug come from the United States or another country and
where was your snack made? As all these questions come into your head, you
wonder who can give you the answers. Fortunately, the government thought about
these conflicts and established several governmental agencies to protect
Americans in food safety.
These agencies are responsible for inspecting,
labeling, marketing, and developing modern safety systems to test foods for
diseases and bacteria. They also work with the local and state governmental
agencies, farmers, and companies to ensure cleaner air, safer food, and pure
water to protect the health and safety of Americans. The following agencies;
Center for Disease Control (CDC), United States Department of Agriculture
(USDA), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) are the most significant federal agencies to help consumers
make better choices in the products they buy. All of them have a particular role
in food safety, and by working together they make the foods we buy safer for
consumption.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is a
government agency that was formed in 1862 by President Abraham Lincoln. The
purpose of forming the agency was to promote the rise of commercial farming.
Many other Acts dealing with agriculture were drawn up over the years and
eventually in 1939 the New Department of Agriculture was formed. President
Franklin D. Roosevelt pushed the reform of the department through because of the
Great Depression was having such a great effect on the farming industry. The new
Department was formed from all of the Acts and old organizations within the
Department and from the exit of a few agencies out of the Department.
The
United States Department of Agriculture in which we look at today has grown and
evolved into a much more direct and consumer friendly government agency. The
duties of the USDA is to research, regulate, and educate. The U.S. is always
researching new farming techniques and different farming products that are
involved in the whole process. They also regulate all farming products, to make
sure that they are safe for the consumption by you and I. There are thousands of
inspectors across the U.S. regulating the farms and factories in which the food
is sold to.
Another duty of the USDA is to educate and inform the public
of food safety. Because of the scares of improperly prepared food, the USDA must
inform the public of different diseases that can be found in foods, especially
meat and poultry supplies. They ensure that the food is safe, wholesome,
unadulterated, and properly labeled and packaged. The way in which they do so is
hire thousands of inspectors and veterinarians conduct slaughterhouse
inspections of all carcasses for diseases and other abnormalities. They also
conduct processing inspections at plants to ensure proper sanitation and
cleanliness. The USDA must also look at the imported food products because of
the import-export inspection system. The U.S. has one of, if not the safest food
production in the world, so we must regulate everything that comes into the
country.
Just recently, there was a great example of how great
our government is, even with the many shortcomings. President Clinton promised
great changes in the inspection
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process of the nation's meat
and poultry. On October 7, 1997 President Clinton and Congress passed a bill
calling for the increase in meat and poultry inspections and production. This
was caused by the big scare this past summer, the outbreak of E coli bacteria in
millions of hamburger meat, in a couple of fast-food chains. The inspection
process will increase gradually over the next few years. Even though the
inspection process has greatly improved, this still does not make it 100%
guaranteed that there will not be small cases of outbreaks. The USDA urges you
to make sure you properly cook your food, so that the chances
decline.
The USDA has a great importance in consumer services. The U.S.
government wants to look out for everyone across the U.S., the USDA started a
Food and Consumer Services (FCS) program. Their purpose is to assist people
across the country to ensure that no one will experience or fear hunger. They
provide a safety net for people in need. Some of the programs are as followed:
Food Stamp Program, Food Distributions for Indians, Supplement Food Programs for
women, infants, and children, and School Breakfast Programs. The USDA serves
many different purposes, most importantly regulation and education of food
safety.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is a branch
of the Department of Health and Human Services that deal with food borne
diseases. Today food-borne illnesses are getting a lot of press. Every second of
every day someone is struck with food poisoning and 33 million suffer each year.
There are also approximately 9,000 reported deaths a year. This is because of
the unsafe food handling that seems to be becoming an epidemic. There are many
different types of bacteria, viruses, and parasites that are either originally
found in the food or they are transferred from an outside source, such as who
the food was prepared by, that causes the illness (Wardlaw). When a person comes
down with an illness that may have been linked to the food they have previously
eaten, the CDC deals with the difficult detection of the microbe that may be
involved. Looking at the source of the food, time when the symptoms arrived, and
how long the illness lasted usually helps to identify the microbe involved. The
following information show's some of the characteristics of the major organisms
that cause food-borne illnesses.
The most commonly found organism to
cause food poisoning is salmonella. Salmonella can be spread through three
common routes: (1) contaminated eggs and egg products as well as raw meats and
chicken, (2) infected food handlers with feces-contaminated hands, and (3)
marijuana contaminated with salmonella. The onset of symptoms develop from 5 to
72 hours after ingestion. Salmonella can cause nausea, fever, headache,
abdominal cramps, diarrhea, and vomiting. It rarely kills, but the elderly and
young are those most at risk. Salmonella is usually treated symptomatically and
can be prevented through safe food handling, through cooking of foods, proper
refrigeration, and avoiding cross contamination (Marieb).
The next most
prevalent food-borne illness causing bacteria is staphylococcus. Staph. Can
usually be found in nasal passages as well as in skin sores. It can be spread
when someone sneezes or coughs over food or handles food while they have open
sores on the skin. The toxin that is produced by the organism can develop when
the food is left out for a long time at room temperature. The onset of the
Staph. Illness occurs 2-6 hours after eating. Symptoms include diarrhea,
vomiting, nausea, and abdominal cramps that
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last 24-36 hours
and also is rarely fatal. Safe food handling, proper food refrigeration and
keeping cuts on the skin covered are all good ways of preventing Staph.
Infections (Marieb).
One of the organisms that are making news lately is
called escherichia coli (e-coli). This type is not considered a serious
food-borne illness in those countries where there are high sanitary standards
and practices. However, it can still be spread through foods contaminated by
infected food handlers as well as undercooked foods, especially meat and
poultry. Onset of the symptoms usually occur within 24 hours. These symptoms
include watery diarrhea, abdominal cramps, low-grade fever, nausea, and malaise
(CFSAN).
Clostridim Perfringens or otherwise known as "cafeteria germ",
is most often associated with outbreaks involving the food service industry or
any other such places that prepare large amounts of food. This organism lives
throughout the environment, but thrives in anaerobic conditions where it is left
at out room temperature. Symptoms are mild and last a day at the most and may
consist of diarrhea and abdominal cramps. They occur 8-24 hours after eating,
but averaging around 12 hours. To prevent the organisms from growing separate
large leftover portions in order to lessen the amount of food in the warm
temperature and oxygen-deprived areas. Also thorough cooking and re-heating of
foods is important in preventing c-perfringen bacteria growth
(Wardlaw).
The next bacteria can actually cause death, if not treated
immediately. Botulism, the deadly illness, is caused by clostridium botulinum
and can release a fatal toxin when grown. The bacteria are mostly found in
canned foods, especially those found in the home. Checking cans for holes, rust
on the seems, and swollen sides and tops can prevent ingesting the bacteria.
Just one string bean has enough toxin in it to kill a human being. Symptom can
appear 12-36 hours after eating the contaminated food and are associated with
impaired nerves. They include double vision, inability to swallow, speech
difficulty, progressive paralysis of the respiratory system, and abdominal pain
along with vomiting. Ten days of bed rest is usually the ultimate recovery
period, if the person survives. The best ways to prevent botulism include using
proper methods for canning low-acid foods, making sure nothing is wrong with a
can, and by destroying the toxins (when the can is already opened) by boiling
the contents for 20 minutes, but throwing away if toxins are suspected
(Wardlaw).
Those organisms were a few of the many that cause food-borne
illnesses. Viruses such as Hepatitis A and Rotavirus as well as certain
parasites can cause food illnesses. Safe food handling, thoroughly cooking foods
and re-heating the leftovers can prevent these as well as other bacteria and
microbes from growing. Food contamination is a very important issue in today's
health news and being aware of what you are eating can prevent someone from food
poisonings.
Around two decades ago rapidly arising public concern of the
environmental safety was in full-blown affect. It could have been said to be an
"environmental decade" (Vig. 5). During the 1970's the United States adopted
many new environmental policies, procedures, laws, and created new institutions
such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The EPA was formulated
to manage programs, and to find money in the government to increase spending for
them. You find that most of the environmental quorums are public problems.
Meaning that the problems can not be solved solely by
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private actions. Not to be said that individuals cannot do anything to help
the environment, especially in local communities, but that there are definitely
power in numbers.
The EPA programs cover many areas for the welfare of
this country. Things such as protecting our water supply, air supply,
supervising hazardous waste sites, testing toxic chemicals, and regulating
pesticides that can enter our food storage. Before any pesticides or toxic
chemical is sold in the United States, the EPA must approve the safety of the
product, and set a limit to the amount that is allowed to be in the food that we
consume. A chemical manufacturer devotes an average of nine years to chemical
research, toxicological analysis and field testing before a pesticide is
submitted to the EPA for approval (Food safety address).
One of the
highest priorities of the EPA research and development program is the protection
and human health through the identification and control of toxic substances.
Many types of short-term test are developed to detect dangerous chemicals that
could be cancer causing and linked to genetic disease (EPA). Some of the most
harmful disorders that have come of these chemicals are tumor formation, gene
mutations, and DNA damage. The biggest tack that the scientists of today face
are being able to distinguish the toxic chemicals from the non-toxic
ones.
All foods are analyzed by separate ingredients using EPA standards.
For example, the amount of wheat flour, tomato, cheese, and other ingredients
are estimated for a serving of pizza. With that estimation the EPA uses the data
to see how much pesticides are taken in daily by individuals. Their "dietary
exposure" to pesticides. To do this they have developed a special data base
recognized as the Dietary Risk Evaluation System (DRESS) (Hazard at plate
address). With this system the EPA can define and reduce the potentially
hazardous pesticides in the diet of potentially sensitive subgroups. According
to William Farland Ph.D., director of EPA's office of Health and Environmental
Assessment, if the DRESS analysis indicates any substantial risk may occur, then
the EPA will not approve a tolerance for the items being tested.
One case
in which the EPA did not approve a tolerance due to specific dietary concerns
involved the pesticide pydrin in 1985. New uses of the chemical on alfalfa and
sorghum were requested to be allowed, but were denied because of the potential
risk to children from secondary residues in milk from cows eating such grains
were unacceptable, and the agency denied the request (Plate
address).
Even though the EPA has accomplished mush over the past 20
years they have not yet stopped or slowed down in their progress. They are still
doing all they can to keep you, the consumer, safe from the environments
impurities. In June of 1997 the EPA found Dioxin in the Tyson Chickens. Dioxin
is a generic name for a group of hundreds of chemical compounds, the most
commonly known of which are toxic. Human exposure to dioxin has been shown to
cause liver and nervous system damage, as well as skin disease such as chloracne
(Haman 6/16/97). Everyone has some percentage of dioxin in their bodies, but the
EPA says to a certain extent it can be unsafe.
In 1883, the Chief of the
Bureau of Chemistry of the United States Department of Agriculture, Dr. Harvey
W. Wiley, was getting fed up with what he considered blatant and obvious abuse
of food and drugs. Merchants, road shows, and pharmacists (who
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bought from the hucksters for their stock) conned thousands of Americans
into buying products which were said to heal, yet were very
dangerous.
Wiley decided to put a small staff together to investigate his
theory. He and his peers found a high percent of alcohol in cures for gout and
liver ailments; headache medicines contained coal tar mixed with sugar-flavored
water (2). Since the U.S. public was not properly informed of healing remedies,
they believed that these medicines worked due to the soothing effect on the
suffering individual. Yet while these traveling merchants sold their products
and skipped town to sell somewhere else, thousands of people were dropping dead
from these products (2).
Immediately after collecting his data, Wiley let
his information be known to the U.S. public, but he was unable to gain
widespread support until 1906. Backed by a huge following of irate citizens, the
Food and Drugs Act of 1906 was passed. The first act was rather simple-it stated
that government has right to control local food and drug traffic that the
federal government could not previously control.
For 32 years the FDA
quietly protected the U.S. consumers, and maintained purity in America's
products. However, they thought that they need more authority than they had.
In1938 the Federal, Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act was passed. Under this act, the
FDA no longer had to prove knowledge of intent in adulteration cases. Many
argued that this gave the FDA complete tyranny.
The main duties created
by this act are to see that the food we eat is safe and wholesome, the cosmetics
we use do not hurt us, medicines are safe and effective. The FDA also protects
the country's blood supply by routinely examining blood banks (1). Also, it
ensures that products are labeled truthfully, and with useful information. Along
with people, the FDA also regulates food and drugs for pets and farm
animals.
The FDA consists of 1100 investigators who cover the nation's
95,000 FDA-regulated businesses. These inspectors visit about 15,000 facilities
per year. Also, they inspect about 80,000 domestic and imported samples for
examination by FDA scientist's (1).
If a company has violated any of the
FDA's laws, this company maybe encouraged to correct the problem or recall it
from the market. If the company does not cooperate and correct the problem, the
FDA can bring them to court and force them to stop selling the product and to
have already produced items destroyed. About 3000 items per year are found to be
unfit for consumer's (1).
The FDA is not responsible for doing research
when approving new drugs; however, it does study the results done by the
manufacturer. Once the drugs have been approved for marketing, the FDA must
still collect tens of thousands of reports on that drug each year to monitor for
any adverse reactions (1).
The Food and Drug Administration is a very
controversial department in the U.S. It has been jeered for having too much
power and even tyranny. However, if it was not created, we would not know what
was in our food and drugs. Overall, the FDA plays a very important and helpful
role in our society today, by making our products safe for
consumption.
Although these agencies serve different departments, their
number one purpose is to provide food safety to all Americans and therefore,
they must work together at
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different points in times to meet
this very significant goal. One instance in which the FDA, CDC, EPA, and USDA
have joined together is the issue of the safety of fruit. Since fruit is usually
grown outside on farms it serves the chances of people catching a disease from
eating it. For the past several years many illnesses have occurred because of
produce. These illnesses include Hepatitis A virus believed to have come from
strawberries in Mexico, salmonella in bean sprouts from the Midwest, and
Escherichia Coli associated with hamburgers not fully cooked.
A few
months ago the EPA warned people of Cyclospora, an infection caused from fruits
and vegetables. The FDA and the CDC worked together with growers to improve
sanitation practices on the farms in Guatemala, while the EPA held a meeting to
find more information on cyclospora. The CDC also found the number of Americans
becoming ill and gave a report on how to decrease the contamination of fruits
(Washington Post, 7/8/97). Another instance in which the EPA, USDA, and the FDA
worked together was with the discovery of toxic dioxin found in Tyson Chickens.
The chicken was sampled and tested by the USDA and the EPA for dioxin levels,
chicken litter, soil, feed, and pesticide use at the Hill Top Farms in Star City
(Arkansas Business, 6/16/97).
Since the FDA is responsible for the safety
of the nation's food supply and overlooks all aspects, it often works with the
other three federal agencies individually to ensure safety to American
consumers. The FDA often communicates with the CDC since foods tend to become
contaminated with diseases and make Americans ill. The FDA also works with the
CDC in such cases of how to fight germs in soaps, deodorants, toothpaste, and
toys using germicidal product, in which both germs and the products can be
harmful to the consumer (Orange County Register, 7/16/97).
The FDA and
the USDA both have the power to inspect, impose grades and standards, and
establish rules regarding labeling. In years before the food manufacturers did
not want to put nutrition labels on foods because they felt it would take a lot
of work, time, and difficulty, but the real reason was it would make consumers
aware of substitutes and contents in the foods. The response after labeling was
low fat and low sodium foods. Therefore because of the Nutrition and Labeling
Act of 1990, which standardized food labels with ingredients, descriptions, and
nutrient contents the USDA and the FDA research has shown that Americans are
more aware of food contents and ingredients to better their health.
The
FDA also enforces laws over the EPA in determining the safety of pesticide
products and setting tolerance levels for pesticide residues in foods. The FDA
also sets guidelines regulating bottled water sold in interstate commerce for
human use. The President signed a Food Quality Protection Act of 1996 in August
of 1996, which regulated pesticides by the FDA and the EPA to put important
public health protection in place, especially for children.
The EPA works
with the USDA, due to the crops that need to be protected by sprays to prevent
them from dying and causing disease. In 1994, the EPA has suggested banning
aerial spraying of certain types of herbicides because they were believed to
damage crops at a Shoreliani organic vegetable farm and can be hazardous to
humans. The USDA recommended the suspended aerial applications of the herbicides
until they
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determined what had happened at Shoreliani.
Currently the farm has been closed down so that the EPA may test to see what
exactly may be dangerous to the plants (Times-Argus 7/20/97).
The CDC
will sometimes function with the EPA to study environmental health problems
since most diseases can come from the environment, water, and pesticides. The
CDC helps to direct and enforce national programs for the prevention and control
of diseases transmitted by a host
organism.