Dr. David Acheson, Chief Medical Officer at the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, said it’s time for something to change: “Having illness and repeated outbreaks, especially the ones we’ve seen in the last couple of months, is clearly unacceptable to everyone.”
The Center for Science in the Public Interest has reported that there were 40 food poisoning outbreaks connected with produce in 1999, while in 2004, there were 86.
This fall, there have been a number of E. coli outbreaks linked with fresh produce. Can the government better protect the food supply and consumers?
This increase may be due to a number of factors, including a higher rate of reporting in these cases and the fact that Americans eat more fruits and vegetables than they did a number of years ago. Regardless of the reason, however, much of the supply of fresh produce is eaten raw, and that can lead to foodborne illness (cooking often destroys bacteria in food).
Consumer advocates would like to see the FDA given more authority to regulate produce. Increased funding, personnel and oversight power may be required, however.
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Located in New Brunswick New Jersey, The Law Firm of Eric Weinberg is currently assisting victims of E. coli food poisoning outbreaks nationwide. If you or a loved one has been sickened in an E. coli outbreak and you have a question regarding a potential food poisoning lawsuit, please contact us toll free at 1-877-934-6274.
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Since 1984, The Weinberg Law Firm has been assisting personal injury victims, including the following matters: medical malpractice lawsuits, truck accident lawsuits, car accident lawsuits, dangerous drug lawsuits, and defective medical device lawsuits.
