Obama Administration Focuses on Food Safety
The Obama administration placed food safety front and center over the weekend. In his weekly radio address, President Obama on Saturday announced new leadership at the Food and Drug Administration and the creation of a panel to toughen food safety laws.
Characterizing outdated food safety laws and the lack of resources at the FDA as “a hazard to public health,” Mr. Obama announced the appointment of Dr. Margaret Hamburg, a former New York City health commissioner, as FDA commissioner, and Baltimore Health Commissioner Dr. Joshua Sharfstein as the FDA principal deputy commissioner. The president also unveiled the Food Safety Working Group – a group that will consist of cabinet secretaries and senior officials to advise the president on how to update and enforce food safety laws.
President Obama also announced two additional food-safety steps on Saturday: closing a loophole in federal regulation that allows some diseased cows to be slaughtered for food, and a billion-dollar investment to modernize labs and increase the number of food inspectors.
Read a transcript of the president’s weekly radio address, download the .mp3 audio, or view the video below.
Breakthrough in Detection of BSE (a.k.a. "Mad Cow Disease")
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No food-borne illness induces consumer fear like Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE a.k.a. "Mad Cow Disease"). The beef industry in particular has gone to great lengths to take preventative steps against the introduction of BSE into U.S. herds. A big problem in controlling BSE is that it’s difficult to detect. The only detection method currently available involves the slaughter of a suspect animal and a series of not very reliable tests.
Now comes word that researchers at Cornell University have devised a “tuning fork” method that may detect BSE at the prion level:
Harold Craighead and colleagues at Cornell University have developed nanoscale resonators, which are tiny devices that function like tuning forks by changing pitch with increased mass. When prions bind to the resonator’s silicon sensor, it changes the vibrational resonant frequency of the device. In experimental trials, the sensor detected prions at concentrations as low as two nanograms per milliliter, the smallest levels measured to date.
Though still a while away from practical application, the technology may have dramatic effects on the ability to ensure the safety of the nation’s beef supply. The BSE “tuning fork” is a good example of yet another new technology industry that the government can use to ensure food safety and consumer confidence.
Farming and safe handling practices alone cannot provide the level of assurance that consumers demand in their food supply. Tuning fork, irradiation, and better bacteria detection are all vital tools that industry, government, and consumers need to embrace.
