Bacteria in food supply said to be at ‘crisis’ level

Bacterial contamination of the nation’s food supply has reached “crisis” proportions, according to U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Frank E. Young.

The problem has worsened in recent years as potentially harmful bacteria continues to invade the food chain in both numerous and novel ways, Young said in an address to the National Food Policy Conference here last week.

More than 200 food industry executives, consumer group activists and government representatives attended the two-day gathering, which also featured presentations on hunger, nutrition and medical research. But the food safety issue surfaced repeatedly, as Young and several other speakers sounded warnings about the presence of bacteria, pesticides and other chemicals in food.

Estimates have placed the number of Americans who become ill with some form of salmonella poisoning to be as high as 2 million annually. An equally large number are said to suffer from camphylobacter, another pathogen, each year. The cost of such food-borne illnesses in terms of lost work and medical bills is said to be between $600 million and $1 billion a year.

The FDA commissioner cited imported foods and meals consumed away from home as two problem areas.

“I’m very concerned about some imported foods available in this country,” he said. “We must ensure that these imports have the same degree of safety as domestically produced products. That is not true now and it’s a real area of concern.”

For instance, Young cited several European soft cheeses examined by the FDA in the past year which contained much higher levels of Listeria monocytogenes bacteria than did the Jalisco soft cheese which was linked to several deaths and numerous illnesses in the Los Angeles area in 1985. The FDA was able to detect the contamination before the cheese entered the country, he said.

The soft cheese incident is but one indication that foods are being manufactured in foreign countries under sanitation standards well below those required in the United States. One reason for the development, Young said, is that other nations have taken a greater role in marketing finished products. In the past, many of these same nations were satisfied with just shipping raw commodities to this country for further processing.

Even so, Young held out little hope that his agency could ensure any significant improvement in its monitoring activities.

“There is a marked increase in the number of imports, but we are only looking at 9% of these entries,” he said, adding that this figure will rise only slightly in the near future because of budget limitations.

Evolving eating habits are also responsible for the jump in food-borne illness, Young said.

“A shift in consumers’ life styles has brought changes in the use of food. . . . We now are having others prepare food for us versus our own in-home preparation. This has put a chink in the armor of food safety,” he said.

Improperly handled or stored meals purchased at restaurants, delicatessens, cafeterias and other takeout businesses are thought to pose a threat to an increasingly large audience.

The FDA commissioner called consumer awareness of the contamination issue one of the best means for controlling the problem.

“The informed consumer is the first line of protection. Without providing information to them (on this issue) then we (at the FDA) will have failed,” he said. “Consumers need to read, be informed and protect themselves.”

Another speaker claimed the federal government’s oversight of agricultural chemicals is inadequate. Al Meyerhoff, senior attorney with the National Resources Defense Council, said that more than 80% of the pesticides now in use have not undergone tests to determine whether the compounds are cancer agents.

“We are led to believe that if we don’t use chemicals on farms in ever increasing amounts--some 2.5 billion pounds were used last year--then the food supply will disappear. Well, that’s just not true,” Meyerhoff said. “Almost none of the pesticides used in the United States or other countries have been tested for cancer.”

Despite chiding federal inaction on the pesticide issue, Meyerhoff conceded that some progress was being made.

“The Environmental Protection Agency made the pest control issue its No. 1 priority this past year, thus making it more important than hazardous waste in this country. That’s because the entire U.S. public is exposed to these substances (pesticides) through the food supply,” he said.

Food safety was also discussed by two members of Congress who spoke before the conference.

California’s Rep. Leon Panetta (D-Monterey), who represents a district with substantial agricultural interests, called for more attention to chemical residues.

“There is a public awareness of the relationship between pesticides and preservatives in food that will increase and not go away,” he said. “I represent an area which grows much of the nation’s fresh produce and I realize the dependence farmers have on those chemicals. But the chemicals we use today must meet our health care needs in the future. Consequently, we need more research into improving those chemicals that are used on food.”

Sen. Robert Dole (R-Kansas), also expressed an interest in increasing the federal government’s role in pesticide monitoring.

“I am concerned about agricultural chemicals. We need to find out what the (health) problem is in that area,” said Dole, who is expected to announce his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination shortly. “I am concerned about it.”