Cleaning up the mess: other countries have cleaner food than we do. What's their secret? - part two - includes roundtable discussion with experts

Vegetarian Times, Dec, 1996 by Luise Light

Other countries have cleaner food than we do. What's their secret? Part two of a two-part series

The most significant food safety improvements in the United States during this century were announced by President Clinton on Independence weekend 1996. Flanked by two bereaved families who had lost relatives to food poisoning, the president said, "Our new food safety initiative will give families the security to know that the food they eat is as safe as it can be."

But since last July, hundreds, possibly thousands of Americans have died as a result of poisoned food. Some of them, no doubt, were already shunning red meat, poultry and fish because they knew the likelihood of contracting a food-borne disease is greatest from those foods. But because so many farm animals harbor microbial diseases, their infections are contaminating vegetables, dairy products and even employees from nearby farms and food service workers. Not even vegetarians are safe. According to estimates from the Council for Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST), a conservative scientific think tank located in Ames, Iowa, nearly 9,000 people die annually from contaminated food and water.

Clinton's new inspection rules are aimed at cleaning up the microbial soup that flows throughout the U.S. meat and poultry processing system. The proposed regulations have to do with tightening procedures at slaughterhouses and meat processing plants. But a thorough look at how some other countries have tackled their food safety problems indicates this narrow focus cannot get the job done. The trouble, say experts in Europe, begins on the farm, and until that venue is cleaned up, no amount of vigilance later in the process will matter.

The president's program states:

* slaughterhouses and processing plants must follow their own written sanitation procedures

* plants must develop and follow a hazard analysis and prevention plan to control bacteria and other hazards at critical production points

* all plants that produce raw meat or egg products will have to meet federal standards (which are not yet determined) for control of Salmonella

* plants have to administer a microbial test for E. Coli regularly and keep a record of those tests * inspectors can stop the production line if they see gross contamination

* if there are serious, repeated or flagrant violations, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) can pursue either administrative, civil or criminal penalties after due process

These proposed regulations are cold comfort to those individuals now sick from contaminated food. The proposals already have had trouble getting appropriate funding from congressional subcommittees. Furthermore, they will not be fully in effect for four years. During that time, there will be numerous public hearings, meetings and invited comments on key aspects of the president's plan. And, if history is any indication, a heavily lobbied Congress will water down what the president proposes, and nothing much will happen.

However, a safer food supply is possible, and good models exist for the United States to follow. It will mean trade groups, consumers, government officials, scientists and public health officials all will have to sit at the same table and really work on solutions. At least three European countries have had great success in doing so. We asked scientists from Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden to share with us what they're doing right and what they think the United States should be doing. As these countries demonstrate, food produced in the United States is not the safest in the world.

We also interviewed three experts on food safety, each with a different perspective, but all well-versed in the business of food production and safety. We asked, "What could we be doing on a national level right now that would make tomorrow's dinner safer for our families?" Their answers follow the opinions of the European scientists (see p. 67). They are united in their belief that to get the job done, the public will have to demand that food safety be moved to the top of the national agenda.

It is widely acknowledged that the governments in Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands do a better job of protecting their citizens from unsafe food than we do in the United States, but when you come right down to it, the only difference that matters is that citizens and officials in those countries have made infection-free food a national mandate.

SWEDEN LEADS THE WAY

Sweden has the most comprehensive Salmonella control program in the world. Developed in the 1950s in response to a massive outbreak of Salmonella poisoning from red meat that caused 90 deaths and over 9,000 illnesses, Sweden has succeeded in virtually eliminating Salmonella from meat, poultry and eggs through preventive measures alone. It did this by imposing strict food safety controls. Farmers are not allowed to bring animals to market that are infected with either Salmonella or E. Coli. If infection is found, flocks and herds are destroyed. If a serious problem is detected in a farmer's farming practices, he or she cannot market poultry or eggs from that farm for months or even years, until the farm passes repeated tests. The program is hailed by health experts around the world as one of the great public health triumphs, in a class with the eradication of small pox.