Antibiotics are currently used widely and irresponsibly in raising farm animals. These antibiotics are meant for treating humans and this use in animals entering the food chain breeds antibiotic resistant bacteria that make people sick, and are much harder to recover from. We have been aware for quite sometime that this happens. Fifteen years ago, when Flouroquinolone antibiotics which were meant for human consumption were approved for use in animals, physicians soon started seeing Campylobacter strains causing human illness that were resistant to Fluoroquinolone treatment. The Food and Drug Administration understands that this is the case, the United States Department of Agriculture is aware of this. The Centers for Disease Control knows this. The World Health Organization knows this, and S.T.O.P. is frightened by this.
Imagine the perfect Valentine’s Day dinner...you and your sweetheart surrounded by hearts, flowers, music and romance at the fanciest restaurant in the city. You’re eating a decadent beef dinner, complete with dessert and wine. It’s the perfect night with the one you love—until you realize you might be paying with your health as well as your money.
There has been a lot of food safety news and food safety talk recently, but very little meaningful action has taken place to protect consumers. Awareness of food safety is important and we appreciate it, but if no action takes place then its value is lost.
S.T.O.P.—Safe Tables Our Priority extends our congratulations to Dr. Elisabeth Hagen on her nomination for the position of Undersecretary for Food Safety.
I hope you all have had a great week. At S.T.O.P.- Safe Tables Our Priority, we sponsor call-in Teleseminars with food safety experts on interesting topics several times throughout the year. We’re planning our Spring 2010 call now and want to know which food poisoning and food safety topics you would like to hear about most....what interests you and what will benefit you the most? Here are a few possibilities to choose from:
This week is the one year anniversary of the PCA outbreak when Salmonella- contaminated peanut products caused a major, multi-state foodborne-illness outbreak -- an outbreak that occurred as a result of outdated and ineffective regulation and oversight by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Nine people died, over 700 were sickened, and close to 3900 products containing peanuts or peanut paste were recalled. Many people lost mothers, fathers, and other close relatives; others had children or other family members who fell ill, or were sickened themselves. Outraged Congressmen and Senators convened hearings, during which they promised to implement meaningful food safety reforms. Despite, the immediate action, concern and bustle of activity, we are still waiting for Congress to enact FDA food safety legislation containing the types of provisions that would have prevented the PCA outbreak.
It’s a New Year with New Updates in the world of food safety! Here is a sampling of what to look out for and what to know as 2010 begins. Remember, you can receive this information and more by signing up for our S.T.O.P. E-alerts! Have a safe and happy 2010!!
Here is the round up for this week. A lot of interesting articles and concern for food safety, which is good. Remember, to receive articles and food safety information and recalls sign up for our S.T.O.P. E-alerts. Have a great weekend!
With H1N1 casting a shadow on all our social interactions, food safety is particularly important this holiday season. Not only do we need to think about how long that egg nog has been sitting on the buffet table – or left on the counter in the kitchen before it was served – we also need to worry about food handling and not passing along Swine Flu.
I hope you all had a good week. We’ve been hustling and bustling over here at S.T.O.P. but we still wanted to give you a heads up on the interesting stories regarding food safety this week. Here are some articles and blog posts that caught our attention. Remember to sign up for our free S.T.O.P. E-alerts to get this and more information delivered to your inbox!
We have been very busy these past few weeks at S.T.O.P.--traveling, fundraising, educating and advocating--all in order to help protect our nation’s food supply. In spite of all this activity, I never forget why I do this: to prevent people getting sick from devastating foodborne illnesses that damage lives forever. I do this for people like Linda, a young woman in her 20’s, who should have the whole world ahead of her. But, due to long-term consequences from the E. coli-contaminated meat that she ate when she was 6 years old, her life is different than most women her age.
Safe Tables Our Priority is celebrating our 16th anniversary this holiday season. We have accomplished so much in the past year, and we’re even more excited about what we plan to accomplish in the future. Here is a sampling of what we’ve been doing this year and projects that we’ve started: