An assessment of today’s food safety legislation in the United States

 What is available in a supermarket? Some background information in order to better grasp the issue of food safety legislation

Where does our meat come from? Where does our milk come from? How safe are the processed foods available on the market? ?

Genetically Engineered Food High Fructose Corn Syrup Bovine Growth Hormone and what else??? ?

 Thesis statement The food safety laws that the USDA and other federal food agencies are issuing are insufficient in assuring the consumer that the products they are buying are safe.  What is the current state of food legislation in the US  Why are these laws insufficient and inadequate?

 Food Safety Legislation in the US: I. What is working with the current food safety legislation? II. What still needs to be worked on? III. Conclusion: assessing the efficiency and sufficiency of US food safety legislation Outline

 Food Safety Legislation Today i.What is Food Safety Legislation and what do these laws say?

             Key actors

FOOD SAFETY AND INSPECTION Meat, poultry, and egg products inspection laws

 “The activities these bureaucracies undertake may be divided into regulation of plant/factory sanitation, product inspection, restaurant inspection, consumer education, and compilation of disease outbreak statistics. These activities are shared by regulators at the federal, state, and local levels. In the federal government, fifteen agencies have legal mandates to provide food safety, with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the CDC playing major roles (Walker 2007).” YASUDA, TOMOHIDE. "Food Safety Regulation in the United States: An Empirical and Theoretical Examination." Independent Review 15.2 (2010): Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 24 Feb Food safety activities

  OUTBREAK : the CDC defines an outbreak as “the occurrence of two or more cases of a similar illness resulting from the ingestion of a common food” (CDC 2000). This definition makes the statistics comprehensive enough to be “the basis for public health action”(CDC 2000)  For example, after an E. coli O157:H7- contaminated hamburger outbreak in 1993 that killed four children, both the FDA and the USDA introduced several new regulations (Golan et al. 2004, 10) Key concepts

  “Be Food Safe means preventing foodborne illness through four easy steps: Clean, Separate, Cook and Chill.” (USDA 2010) USDA food safety education  bacteria, germs, cross-contamination, defrosting, safe-microwaving…

BUT what about ingredients? Labelling? Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs)? Milk standards? Food sources? Shouldn’t these factors also be regulated by food safety laws?

 Are these safety regulations sufficient? The larger implications of food safety laws on the consumer’s health

Key words: Transportation Allergies Contamination Illnesses Food protection

 “Product Specific Information” MILK SAFETY

Labeling CF: arc/Policies/Labeling_Policy_Book_ pdf

 New methodological tactic: looking at what is unsafe but allowed

 Unsafe ingredients Food categoryUnsafe component Meat Additives, preservatives, what the animal is fed Milk Bovine Growth Hormone (rbGH) Fruits and vegetables Can be genetically modified Wheat Can be genetically modified Processed food Hydrogenated vegetable fats BHA, BHT: Butylated HydroxyAnisole Trans-fats High fructose corn syrup (HFCS)

 Focus on  High Fructose Corn Syrup (processed foods, cookies, sweets)  Bovine Growth Hormone (milk)  GMO or other ingredient (TBD)  Link to the UNC community/ student population 3 Unsafe Ingredients

 High Fructose Corn Syrup John S. White, et al. "A Critical Examination of the Evidence Relating High Fructose Corn Syrup and Weight Gain." Critical Reviews in Food Science & Nutrition 47.6 (2007): Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 1 Mar

 Bovine Growth Hormone

  Keep doing the detective work  Explore the unsafe food components that are found in food and how they are regulated  Assess the larger implications of food safety on health, accessibility, prices  Can the USDA and other food agencies change their structure to make it more health-oriented? Work left to do

  Thank you for your attention!

 Cheap food Availability and price Food choices Health Calorie dense food Low nutritional value Weight gain