[USCC] Fwd: California Urged to Monitor Farms for Food Safety

[Jim McNelly]

>Caroline Smith DeWaal
>Food Safety Director
>Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI)
>1875 Connecticut Ave, NW
>Suite 300
>Washington, DC 20009
>
>phone (202) 777-8366
>fax (202) 265-4954
>e-mail cdewaal at cspinet.org
>On the internet:
>www.cspinet.org
>www.safefoodinternational.org
>cc
>
>
>For Immediate Release:
>Wednesday, October 25, 2006
>
>Contact: Jeff Cronin,  202-777-8370, or Patti Truant 202-777-8316
>
>California Urged to Monitor Farms for Food Safety
>States Can Move Faster Than the Federal 
>Government to Implement Standards, Says CSPI
>
>WASHINGTON—The state of California should move 
>quiickly to adopt regulations governing the 
>production of fruit and vegetables in California 
>since no federal agency has yet adopted 
>standards, according to the nonprofit Center for 
>Science in the Public Interest (CSPI). In a 
>legal petition filed with Governor Arnold 
>Schwarzenegger and California Department of 
>Health Services Director Sandra Shewry, CSPI 
>food safety director Caroline Smith DeWaal said 
>that mandatory regulations governing manure, 
>water and sanitation on farms could help reduce 
>the number of produce-borne food outbreaks, such 
>as the recent outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 traced to California-farmed spinach.
>
>“California should implement standards to 
>protect its consumers and its produce industry, 
>instead of waiting for Congress or one of the 
>federal agencies with food safety 
>responsibilities to step in,” DeWaal said. 
>“This is clearly a case where prompt action at 
>the state level could prevent future outbreaks.”
>
>CSPI urged the officials to adopt measures 
>similar to the Hazard Analysis and Critical 
>Control Points (HACCP) standards that meat and 
>poultry producers are required to comply with 
>nationwide. HACCP systems coupled with test and 
>hold programs for ground beef have proven 
>effective in reducing the number of E. coli 
>O157:H7 outbreaks linked to beef. Meanwhile, 
>outbreaks linked to fresh produce have increased 
>in recent years, according to CSPI. In addition 
>to the recent spinach outbreak, tomatoes, 
>lettuces, melons, sprouts, carrot juice and 
>other foods contaminated with E. coli, 
>Salmonella or other pathogens have caused 
>outbreaks. Those pathogens are usually—though 
>not always—linked back to animal agriculture, 
>which CSPI says warrants aa particular regulatory focus on manure and water.
>
>The same strain of E. coli that sickened 200 and 
>killed at least three in the recent spinach 
>outbreak has been matched with that of cattle 
>manure found near one of the spinach fields at 
>issue. CSPI says that the use of raw manure as 
>fertilizer should be prohibited during the 
>growing season, and that composting practices 
>should be monitored to ensure pathogens are 
>destroyed. Water used for irrigation must be 
>tested and found suitable and only drinkable 
>water should be used in produce processing facilities, according to the group.
>
>CSPI’s petition also urges better hygiene and 
>sanitation on farms, and for improved package 
>markings that can be used to track back produce to the farm of origin.
>
>“We are reaching a tipping point, where 
>consumers may not trust voluntary industry 
>programs and instead may choose to stop eating 
>foods that are both convenient and vital to good 
>health. I don’t think Salinas County growers 
>can afford to be the cause of another large 
>outbreak,” DeWaal said. “California often 
>takes the lead in health and food safety issues 
>when the federal government is slow to act. The 
>state should exercise its leadership in this 
>instance by giving our food supply a safe start on its farms.”
>
>The petition CSPI filed with the state of 
>California is available at 
><http://cspinet.org/new/pdf/ca_produce_petition.pdf>http://cspinet.org/new/pdf/ca_produce_petition.pdf. 
>
>
>In other action, last week CSPI wrote to U.S. 
>Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt 
>to request that the department do a fair and 
>accurate reporting of the deaths and illnesses 
>linked to the recent spinach outbreak. 
>Specifically, CSPI asked that Leavitt declare 
>June Edith Dunning, an elderly Maryland woman 
>who died September 13 from complications due to 
>E. coli 0157:H7, as the fourth fatal victim of 
>the spinach outbreak that affected consumers in 
>26 states and further, that Leavitt personally 
>assess the methods being used by CDC to 
>distinguish “official” cases from 
>“suspect” cases and give a full accounting 
>of the public health impact of this outbreak.
>
>The letter to Leavitt is available at 
><http://cspinet.org/new/pdf/leavitt_letter.pdf>http://cspinet.org/new/pdf/leavitt_letter.pdf. 
>
>[]
>
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>Communications Department
>Center for Science in the Public Interest
>1875 Connecticut Avenue, NW
>Washington, DC 20009
>(202) 332-9110
>press at cspinet.org
>
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