Washington, February 09, 2009 - If the United States had a single, modern food agency, U.S. schools might not have received peanut products for lunches from a plant linked to an outbreak of salmonella food poisoning, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Monday.
The outbreak has made at least 575 people sick, more than half of them children, and may be linked to eight deaths. As a result, "The country is now taking a look at food safety with heightened awareness," Vilsack told reporters.
"I think you can expect to see some discussion and some real work on modernizing the food safety system in this country," he said.
Last week, the Agriculture Department said schools in California, Idaho and Minnesota received suspected products from the Peanut Corp. of America in 2007 for a federal lunch program. The company has recalled all products made since 2007 at its plant in Blakely, Georgia.
"Would that have happened if you had a single food agency that was modernized?" Vilsack said after speaking to wheat growers in Washington.
"You might not have had the problem to begin with, and once you were aware of the problem, steps could have been taken," he said.
There have been no reports of illness from USDA-purchased peanut products, according to USDA, which has suspended the company from federal government contracts. USDA's school lunch program serves an estimated 32.1 million students each day.
U.S. officials say the Peanut Corp. of America plant found 12 instances of salmonella since 2007, only to retest the product to obtain a negative result before illegally shipping the products for sale.
Nearly 1,800 products, ranging from crackers to pet food, have been recalled. The Food and Drug Administration and the Justice Department are conducting a criminal investigation.
Consumer and industry groups, along with lawmakers, have called for an overhaul of the U.S. food safety system. Several bills in Congress have proposed food safety overhauls. The most popular focus on giving the FDA more money and authority.
Vilsack called for a single food safety agency to replace the 15 agencies now handling food safety.
Vilsack said "chances are quite good that you have gaps" that allow something to "fall though the cracks."
Other incidents since 2006, involving lettuce, peppers and spinach, have eroded public confidence in food supply.
An estimated 76 million people in the United States get sick every year with foodborne illness and 5,000 die, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.