Salmonella Saintpaul has caused 1251 reported illnesses, 228 hospitalizations and contributed in part to the deaths of two elderly men. Tomatoes, originally believed to be cause of the outbreak have not exactly been exonerated but after a 2 months of scrutiny, the focus of the investigation has shifted to jalapenos, now believed to be the prime suspect.
Not Everything in Texas is bigger
Just days before congressional hearings on the matter are slated to begin, the FDA was finally able to pinpoint the source of the outbreak to McAllen, Texas based jalapeno importer, Agricola Zaragoza. This investigative feat; tracing the outbreak down to a single purveyor is amazing, especially considering Agricola is a tiny venture – a few employees working out a rented stall - despite not being national distributor, the company stands accused to transporting tainted jalapenos to 43 states and DC. Like a few other high profile federal cases in recent years, this fortuitous set of circumstances will be easier to believe when the dust from the lawsuits settle.
Enter Congress –
This week the House’s horticulture and organic agriculture subcommittee will host a pubic forum to chastise the FDA, spotlight a few small family growers who were hurt during the tomato advisory and allow representatives to express concern for dozens of CSPAN 2 viewers. In separate legislative action, Rep. Tm Mahoney (D-FL) will introduce a bill offering 100 million dollars in compensation to tomato growers and distributors who lost product and business during the tomato advisory. While hearings might embarrass political appointees at the FDA and make industry growers, packers and distributors squirm; expect little else to happen: No one wants any sort of reform.
Congress doesn’t have the money to fund current food safety programs and are understandably skeptical about the executive branch’s ability and desire to implement new programs. The type of reform currently being proffered is a system that allows produce to be tracked back to its source via barcodes. This system was first proposed during W’s first term. The objection to such a system is that the cost of the equipment would drive small enterprises out of business…And you know when the likes of Altria - then parent company of Kraft Foods; The Kroger Co.; Safeway Inc.; ConAgra Foods Inc.; The Procter & Gamble Co and others met with Bush administration officials in 2003-2004, their number one concern was most likely the operational costs for small businesses.
Consumers have little interest in adding to the cost of an already increasing grocery bill. While there are shoppers who will pay extra for convenience, local, organic or functional foods, experts see little potential for value added safety – it is a feature people expect in food, not something they will pay a premium price for.
Growers, distributors and retailers have little incentive to adapt new standards. A tracking system would have not prevented this outbreak, but it would have isolated the culprit sooner. As well as pinpointing who was selling contaminated produce - opening the floodgates to bad PR at best and endless litigation at worst.
That shinning example of cutting edge technology and service, the US Postal Service uses tracking software that can theoretically trace a single letter in its system. Shellfish comes with documentation certifying where the seafood was harvested. Products as diverse juice, packaged cheese, aspirin all contain lot numbers – pinpointing the date and location a product was made. In grocery stores, the barcode is the backbone of the system, yet for the time being produce remains immune to a tracking system every other business in the country uses. Various published reports indicate that the losses from this salmonella outbreak now exceed the costs of implementing a tracking system for fresh produce, maybe this will be the engine for change.
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