Emily Scarr
Senior Advisor, Maryland PIRG
Senior Advisor, Maryland PIRG
Maryland PIRG Foundation
Baltimore: From E. coli-infected romaine lettuce to Salmonella-tainted beef, contaminated foods lead to illnesses that sicken as many as 1 in 6 Americans annually. In 2018, this epidemic helped spur major recalls, which caused stores and restaurants to toss millions of pounds of meat and produce. Maryland PIRG Foundation’s new report How Safe is Our Food?, released today, reveals how fundamental flaws in our current food safety system have led to a jump in these recalls since 2013.
“The food we nourish our bodies with shouldn’t pose a serious health risk. But systemic failures mean we’re often rolling the dice when we go grocery shopping or eat out,” said Maryland PIRG Director Emilly Scarr. “We can prevent serious health risks by using common sense protections from farm to fork.”
Since the passage of the nation’s last significant food safety law, the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) in 2011, many types of food recalls have increased substantially. While better science and more thorough investigations under FSMA account for some of the increased recalls, U.S. PIRG found serious gaps in the food safety system throughout the same time period.
Key findings from this year’s report include:
“These recalls are a warning to everyone that something is rotten in our fields and slaughterhouses. Government agencies need to make sure that the food that reaches people’s mouths won’t make them sick,” concluded Scarr.