Food Safety

Introduction

The concept of food safety can take many forms. Perhaps the most commonly thought of notion related to unsafe food is the acute illness that follows from foodborne contamination threatening the health of all users of the product. Food might also be unsafe if it contains an undisclosed ingredient that is harmful to a portion of the population, such as a common allergen. Another type of unsafe food might occur when an ingredient is unsafe to consume over time, such as trans fat, or becomes unsafe at high levels, such as caffeine. Finally, certain production practices may result in food of questionable safety, subject to inquiry and debate by scientists, as occurred with the addition of growth hormones and antibiotics to food-animal feed. These and similar topics will be discussed in this chapter.

History of Food Safety in the United States

In the 1800s, adulterated and misbranded food and drugs were a relatively accepted part of the American landscape. Harvey Washington Wiley, Chief Chemist of the Bureau of Chemistry, which later became the Food and Drug Administration, worked for years to convince Congress and the American public that a federal law was necessary to prohibit the adulteration and misbranding of food and drugs.^[1] During this time period, “reform-minded journalists,”^[2] called the Muckrakers, helped expose the dangerous qualities of food and drugs available in the marketplace. The most famous expose was Upton Sinclair’s book, The Jungle, in which he sought to point out the atrocities of labor conditions for the “workingmen of America.”^[3] Ultimately, however, his vivid description of the meat packing industry shocked Americans regarding the true condition of meat sold for consumption—diseased, rat infested, and chemically treated—and is widely credited as helping to lead to the passage of the Food and Drug Act of 1906.^[4]

The Pure Food and Drugs Act was passed by Congress on June 30, 1906, and signed into law by President Theodore Roosevelt. The Act was administered by the Bureau of Chemistry, which was housed in the Department of Agriculture at the time. The Pure Food and Drugs Act prohibited the manufacture, sale, or transportation of adulterated, misbranded, poisonous or deleterious foods, drugs, medicines, and liquors in interstate commerce.^[5] In 1930, the Bureau of Chemistry became the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the agency sought to update the 1906 law. Congress resisted, but after more than one hundred people were killed from a poisonous ingredient added to a drug, Congress passed the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act in 1938.^[6] The FDA was transferred to the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare in 1953, which became the Department of Health and Human Services in 1979.^[7]

Today, the FDA has the regulatory authority to protect public health by overseeing the safety and labeling of food.^[8] The FDA is responsible for enforcing the Food Drug and Cosmetic Act (FDCA), which prohibits the introduction of adulterated food into interstate commerce. The FDCA defines food as: (1) articles used for food or drink for man or other animals, (2) chewing gum, and (3) articles used for components of any such article.^[9] The FDCA defines adulterated food as food that bears or contains any poisonous or deleterious substance that may render it injurious to health or food that bears or contains a poisonous or deleterious substance, pesticide chemical residue, food additive, or color additive that is unsafe.^[10]

Although the FDA has primary jurisdiction over most foods, other agencies are involved in food safety. For example, although the FDA has jurisdiction over livestock intended for food, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has jurisdiction over the slaughter and processing of the animals.^[11] Similarly, the FDA has jurisdiction over bottled water and water used as an ingredient in food, but the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is responsible for the safety and purity of drinking water.^[12] Fifteen federal agencies have responsibilities related to food safety as explained further in Table 5.1 below.

The EPA’s role in food safety is primarily related to ensuring food is safe from harmful levels of pesticides, but it also addresses such issues as contaminated fish and harmful algae blooms, which can be toxic to humans and animals.^[13] Pesticides are agents used to kill or control undesired insects, weeds, rodents, fungi, bacteria, and other organisms. The EPA approves all pesticides to be used on foods and sets tolerances, or maximum residue limits, on the amount of pesticide residue that can lawfully remain on a food.^[14] The FDA, however, actually enforces the pesticide tolerances established by the EPA on all food under the FDA’s domain,^[14] and the USDA tests, samples, analyzes, and reports on pesticide residues under its Pesticide Data Program.^{[16] [17] [18]}

In addition, state and local health departments are directly involved in food safety. The majority of local health departments engage in food safety education to food handlers, operators, and food service establishments for preventive purposes, and to the public during a recall or an outbreak.^17,18 The majority of local health departments are also in charge of regulating, inspecting, and/or licensing food service establishments.^[18] Local health departments conduct food inspection in an array of other institutions under their authority, such as grocery stores, day-care facilities, hospitals, and schools. When a food is suspected to be contaminated, local health departments are often the first to receive the report and may initiate recalls.^[17] Only a small percentage of local health departments have

TABLE 5.1

Federal Agency Food Safety Responsibilities

TABLE 5.1

Continued

Source: GAO Report. GAO-15-180 Federal Food Safety Oversight. Additional Actions Needed to Improve. Table 1. http://www.gao.gov/assets/670/667656.pdf

food testing laboratory facilities, so in the majority of states the state department of health assumes this responsibility.

• [1] John P. Swann. FDA’s Origin. Food and Drug Administration History Office. http://www.fda.gov/AboutFDA/WhatWeDo/History/Origin/ucm124403.htm
• [2] Amanda Foreman. A Brief History of Media Muckraking. The Wall Street Journal. July 25,2014. http://www.wsj.com/articles/a-brief-history-of-media-muckraking-1406330669
• [3] Upton Sinclair. Dedication. The Jungle. New York, NY: Airmont Publishing Company, Inc.; 1965.
• [4] Roger I. Roots. A Muckraker’s Aftermath: The Jungle of Meat-packing Regulation after aCentury, William Mitchell Law Review. 200^27(4): Article 1.
• [5] Food and Drug Administration. Regulatory Information. Federal Food and Drugs Act of1906. http://www.fda.gov/RegulatoryInformation/Legislation/ucm148690.htm
• [6] FDA. About FDA. http://www.fda.gov/AboutFDA/WhatWeDo/History/FOrgsHistory/CFSAN/ucm083863.htm
• [7] Food and Drug Administration. FDA Organizational Histories. http://www.fda.gov/AboutFDA/WhatWeDo/History/FOrgsHistory/default.htm.
• [8] Food and Drug Administration. FDA Basics. What does FDA do? http://www.fda.gov/AboutFDA/Transparency/Basics/ucm194877.htm
• [9] 21 USCS § 321(f).
• [10] 21 USC § 342.
• [11] Neal Fortin. Food Regulation: Law, Science, Policy, and Practice. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley &Sons, Inc.;2009, p. 39.
• [12] Neal Fortin. Food Regulation: Law, Science, Policy, and Practice. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley &Sons, Inc.;2009, pp. 39-40.
• [13] Environmental Protection Agency. Agriculture. Food Safety. March 13, 2013. http://www.epa.gov/agriculture/tfsy.html#pesticideinfood
• [14] Environmental Protection Agency. Pesticides: Topical & Chemical Fact Sheets. The EPA andFood Security. May 2012. http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/factsheets/securty.htm
• [15] Environmental Protection Agency. Pesticides: Topical & Chemical Fact Sheets. The EPA andFood Security. May 2012. http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/factsheets/securty.htm
• [16] United States Department of Agriculture. Quick Facts about the Pesticide Data Program(PDP). http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSvi.o/getfile?dDocName=STELDEV3003252
• [17] National Association of County and City Health Officials. Local Health Department Rolesin Food Safety: Backgrounder. http://www.naccho.org/topics/environmental/foodsafety/upload/Local-Health-Department-Roles-in-Food-Safety-2-5.pdf
• [18] National Association of County and City Health Officials. 2013 National Profile of LocalHealth Departments. (Downloaded from NACCHO website).
• [19] National Association of County and City Health Officials. 2013 National Profile of LocalHealth Departments. (Downloaded from NACCHO website).
• [20] National Association of County and City Health Officials. Local Health Department Rolesin Food Safety: Backgrounder. http://www.naccho.org/topics/environmental/foodsafety/upload/Local-Health-Department-Roles-in-Food-Safety-2-5.pdf