March 16, 2009

US President Barack Obama said Saturday (Mar 14) that the country's food safety system is hazardous to public health and overdue for an overhaul.

Obama has appointed former New York City Health Commissioner Margaret Hamburg as the Commissioner for Food and Drug Administration (FDA), while Baltimore's health commissioner Joshua Sharfstein was appointed as Hamburg's deputy.

Consumer groups lauded the new appointments, expressing their confidence that Hamburg and Sharfstein could turn things around.

Obama is also creating a special advisory group to coordinate and update the century-old food safety laws.

The President said too many agencies are responsible for food safety, making it difficult to share information and stop problems from falling through the cracks. The FDA also has insufficient funding or workers to conduct annual inspections at more than a fraction of the 150,000 food processing plants and warehouses in the US.

Obama noted that contaminated food outbreaks have more than tripled to nearly 350 a year from 100 incidents annually in the early 1990s.

Obama also announced a ban on the slaughter of downer cows to keep them out of the food supply, as these animals pose a higher risk of having mad cow disease, E. coli and other infections.

The US has suffered breakdowns in food safety in recent years. Dozens of food recalls occurred last year, including a massive salmonella outbreak in peanut products that have killed nine people and sickened more than 600 others.