Bye Bye Salads

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http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-922saladbars,0,2816212.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines Are more problems ahead for the salad bowl? By Jonathan D. RockoffBaltimore SunSeptember 22, 2006, 12:07 PM EDT WASHINGTON -- Consumers should expect more bacterial outbreaks like the one involving bagged spinach because federal regulators lack the resources to do much more than react to such events after they

occur, food safety experts say.Once rare, outbreaks have increased steadily over the last decade as bagged produce has rocketed in popularity. Specialists expect the trend to continue until the Food and Drug Administration is better equipped to conduct more inspections, which could prevent episodes, and support research that would pinpoint the cause.Since 2003, the agency's food staff has declined by about 10 percent. Meanwhile, sales of fresh salads and produce-related outbreaks have more than tripled over the last 10 years."Unless the food part of the agency begins to get money sufficient to deal with inspections and do research to identify when contamination occurs and why, I think we could see an increase in these outbreaks," said Sanford Miller, a former director of the FDA's food division now at the University of Maryland's Center for Food, Nutrition and Agriculture Policy.Activists and experts said the Bush administration and Congress

ignored warning signs that bacterial outbreaks were a growing problem and that more funding was needed.In response to the latest E. coli outbreak, investigators have descended upon California's Salinas Valley, where three-fourths of the country's fresh spinach is grown. The FDA has warned consumers to avoid eating spinach, and two California companies and a New Jersey company have recalled products containing it.Food safety experts, former regulators and activists praise the rapid response for limiting the harm done by the illness, which has killed one person and sickened at least 156 people.But they doubt it will stop future scares. Since 1995, there have been 20 outbreaks caused by the E. coli O157:H7 bacteria blamed in this episode. Cases of food-borne illness from infected produce now regularly surpass those from beef, poultry and fish combined, according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest, an advocacy group."It's going to

continue until somebody does the research to figure out how the contamination happens," said Dean Cliver, professor of food safety at the University of California, Davis.The FDA has repeatedly encouraged industry to take more preventive action."In light of continuing outbreaks, it is clear that more needs to be done," said a Nov. 4, 2005, warning letter to California companies growing, packing, processing and shipping fresh leafy greens. Last month, the agency launched a safety program for lettuce, since expanded to include spinach."The bottom line is, clearly there is still a problem, and what has been done to date hasn't been enough," said Dr. David Acheson, chief medical officer at the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition.By redeploying staff, the FDA had enough resources to investigate the latest outbreak, he said, but he agreed the agency could use more funding to research the sources of contamination."Somewhere

between inspecting every harvest in every field every day versus where we are now, that's going to have to be worked out--sooner rather than later hopefully," he said.Jerry Welcome, executive vice president for business development at the United Fresh Produce Association, the largest trade group, attributed part of the increase in food-borne illnesses to improved reporting systems.On Thursday, California growers and processors worked to draw up new food-safety measures. U.S. officials want the measures in place before lifting the warning on spinach.Tennessee health officials on Friday announced the state's first case of E. coli traced to bagged spinach from central California.The illness now makes Tennessee the 24th state with confirmed cases of E. coli linked to the outbreak.A Nashville man in his 70s became ill with symptoms of E. coli on Sept. 10 and visited an area emergency room. The patient was never hospitalized and has made a

full recovery, the Tennessee Department of Health said.``This person consumed spinach that was part of the recall,'' said Dr. Tim Jones, deputy state epidemiologist. ``That stuff is all off the shelves now. This doesn't signify ongoing risk of infection.''Before Tennessee's report, the outbreak had sickened 157 people, killing one, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.The Associated Press contributed to this report. 2006, South Florida Sun-Sentinel "Get off your ass and take your government back." ~Rocky Ward

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