E. coli fallout: dems to fast-track reforms: new Congress will weigh produce trace-back rules, safety 'superagency'

Nation's Restaurant News,  Jan 1, 2007  by Carolyn Walkup

Tags: U.S. Congress

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Federal lawmakers and foodservice industry groups have targeted 2007 as the year to enact sweeping infrastructural improvements to increase the safety of produce and avoid the kind of recurrent outbreaks of food-borne illnesses that last year sickened and killed consumers while tarnishing restaurants' reputations.

As 2006 drew to a close and the causes of two apparently unrelated outbreaks of E. coli bacterial infections remained uncertain, executives of the affected Taco Bell and Taco John's chains vowed to work toward preventing future incidents. Produce growers also publicized steps they are taking to avoid the spread of diseases--including salmonella--that can be carried by raw fruits and vegetables.

The two E. coli crises represented a small fraction of the total number that occur nationwide each year. More than 80 produce-linked outbreaks that sicken an average of 43 people each take place annually, according to data compiled by the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Science in the Public Interest.

Raw produce has become a bigger culprit in the incidence of illnesses--typically marked by diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, fever, stomach cramps, but sometimes also kidney failure and death--because cooking meat at sufficient temperatures can kill harmful bacteria.

"It's about time that the industry takes a position on this," said Ron Paul, chief executive of Chicago-based Technomic Inc., a foodservice industry consulting and research firm. "It's not just a supply problem. There have been enough cases now that it will make some consumers nervous."

Democratic leaders in both houses of Congress have pledged to try to correct the problems early this year with mandatory regulations to ensure a safer food supply. The National Restaurant Association also promised to take food safety precautions "to the next level," including strengthening safeguards against more outbreaks of norovirus, such as the one that occurred late last year at an Olive Garden restaurant in Indianapolis and an Applebee's unit in Lansing, Mich.

Several industry groups stepped up actions to improve food safety following the E. coli outbreak last September that was traced to packaged spinach and resulted in the deaths of three people and the illnesses of at least 200 others. Part of the problem in pinpointing contamination causes is an inability to accurately trace back produce to the fields where it grew.

Taco Bell president Greg Creed said his Irvine, Calif.-based chain favors the formation of a broad coalition of restaurants, regulators and suppliers to fight foodborne illness. Creed also indicated that the chain, an arm of Louisville, Ky.-based Yum! Brands Inc., would want to help spearhead such a coalition.

Brian Dixon, a spokesman for Cheyenne, Wyo.-based Taco John's, said he favors a comprehensive voluntary approach over mandatory regulations.

Both chains ran newspaper ads after the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declared that each of their E. coli outbreaks were over. The ads attempted to reassure customers that the chains' food is safe to eat. Taco John's also ran a series of updates on its website throughout the investigation of the outbreaks, which were linked to three restaurants in Iowa and Minnesota and sickened at least 50 people.

Taco Bell's incidents in five Northeastern states resulted in 71 confirmed illnesses out of some 460 reported cases, including 53 hospitalizations and eight cases of kidney failure, or hemolytic uremic syndrome, according to the Food and Drug Administration, which was continuing to investigate the source of the bacteria late last month.

"Ultimately, the problem goes back to cattle in the [suspect growing] region," said Kirk Smith, supervisor of foodborne disease investigations at the Minnesota Department of Health, which is investigating the Taco John's outbreak linked to the same--sometimes lethal--E. coli 0157:H7 strain. Infected cattle feces can wash into produce fields through flooding of contaminated streams or via wildlife, he said.

"One of the problems is a lack of records that preclude the FDA from knowing for certain which field the contamination occurred in," Smith said. "The FDA wishes it had more resources and more authority over these farms."

Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., who is expected to lead the House Appropriations Agriculture Subcommittee in the 110th Congress, plans to reintroduce a bill she and Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., first introduced in 1999 that would place food safety divisions of some one dozen federal agencies under one umbrella agency. The bill authorizing the creation of the so-called superagency is likely to mandate regular inspections of all food processing plants, increase oversight of imported foods and require tracing foods to their point of origin. Produce growers and processors currently follow safety protocols on a voluntary basis only, and the shrinking ranks of federal inspectors are hard-pressed to monitor farms and packers.