Notes

Outline

America Moves Forward to Protect Public Health Michelle Torno RD, LD. Director of Nutrition & Consumer Information Ronald F. Eustice Executive Director Minnesota Beef Council

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Pillars of Public Health Pasteurization Immunization Chlorination Source: Minnesota Department of Health

Pillars of Public Health Pasteurization Immunization Chlorination Irradiation Source: Dr. Michael Osterholm

The Cost of Irradiation Delay America’s Food Supply is the Safest in the World, BUT: 14 People Die Every Day From Food borne Illness. 5200 People (Mostly Children) Die Every Year From Foodborne Illness. Centers for Disease Control

The Cost of Irradiation Delay One in four Americans will get foodborne illness this year. Most will go largely unnoticed and unreported. For some the cost of delay is death.

Foodborne Illness: The Situation

The Tip of the Iceberg Foodborne Illness is an under reported disease. We really do not know exactly how many people become ill from food.

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Emerging Diseases “If you knew foodborne illness ten years ago, you don’t necessarily know it today.”Dr. Michael Osterholm Former Minnesota State Epidemiologist, Food Safety Conference, June 21, 1999 Foodborne Illness: New diseases Emerging diseases Re-emerging diseases (There are about 200 food transmitted diseases) Many diseases create lifelong disabilities Example: Salmonella-10% of victims develop arthritis (Reiters Syndrome) and carry throughout their life.

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Food Recalls On the Rise

Who is most susceptible to foodborne illness?

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Food Borne Illness An estimated 85 percent of food borne illness outbreaks in the United States are caused by fresh vegetables, raw fruits, seafood and cheeses---NOT meat, dairy or eggs as most people and the media seem to believe. Source: Congressional General Accounting Office

THE E.COLI THREAT: IT’S WORSE THAN YOU THINK; OR IS IT?

How Common Is E. Coli on Farms? USDA National Health Monitoring System (NAHMS) (October 1999-September 2000) 73 feedlots/11 states 25 Fecal samples/3 pens (75 total samples-2X/year) 11 % of Samples Positive Samples Collected from 422 cattle pens 58% had one or more positive samples E. Coli has 3 week half life No Geographic Trend

How Common Is E. Coli on Farms? Nebraska Study-1998 15 feedlots 17 cow calf herds (Five states) E. coli antibodies in 80% of all cattle sampled (3 week half life) 25% of cattle may harbor E. Coli O157:H7 Meat Animal Research Center

Food Safety  Progress Report According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, food-borne illnesses have dropped 23 percent in six years. USDA's ground beef sampling program shows that less than four-tens of 1 percent of samples they've taken are positive for E. coli O157:H7. USDA in April 2002 shows that the prevalence of Salmonella in raw meat and poultry has decreased since the implementation of HACCP in 1998.  The prevalence of Salmonella in ground beef, for example, dropped from 7.5 percent in baseline samples before 1998 down to 2.8 percent in 2001.

No Magic Bullet Solutions? More research? Cleaner farms, facilities? Smaller Farms? More inspectors? Organic? “It’s like sticking your hand in one side of a haystack and saying the whole stack is free of needles.” Dr. Michael Osterholm, former Minnesota State Epidemiologist

Organic Food? Organic chickens are three times more likely than traditionally-bred birds to be contaminated with a bacterium that causes food-poisoning. Danish Veterinary Laboratory in Aarhus found that all 22 organic broiler flocks they investigated were infected with Campylobacter. A third of the 79 conventional chicken flocks were infected.

America Moves Forward Our goal is to stop the spread of disease in foods (such as fresh fruit, raw vegetables and ground beef) just like we stopped the spread of disease in milk with pasteurization.

Food Irradiation:  the 4th Pillar of Public Health During the 21st Century Food Irradiation Will Take It’s Rightful Place as the 4th Pillar of Public Health; and…

Picking Up the Torch We encourage Sysco to pick up the torch as America moves forward to make the world’s safest food supply even safer.

Not If, But When? Recalls? Illness? Hospitalization Long Term Disability Headlines? Bad Publicity? Death? Lost Business? Lawsuits?

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Reduce Foodborne Illness If Not Us, Then Who?

"If Not Now,"  If Not Now, Then When?