Improving sampling and risk communication at FSIS
Chuck Dodd is dreamy – as a student, that is.
What teacher wouldn’t be proud when a student does a class assignment, and it eventually gets published in a peer-reviewed journal?
.jpg)
Chuck took my graduate course, Food Safety Risk Analysis, in the early part of 2008. For the final assignment, students are required to take a food safety risk issue of their choosing, and develop a risk analysis report for an audience, like a regulatory agency, integrating risk assessment, management and communication.
Chuck’s report – after editing and thoughtful comments from colleagues – was recently published in Foodborne Pathogens and Disease, entitled, Regulatory management and communication of risks associated with Eschericia coli O157:H7 in ground beef.
The Kansas State University press release that went out this morning says, in part,
What consumers may not be finding out about recalls and the inspection process, however, could make them doubt the effectiveness of what is actually a pretty good system to keep food safe, according to Kansas State University researchers.
Charles Dodd, K-State doctoral student in food science, Wamego, and Doug Powell, K-State associate professor of food safety, published a paper in the journal Foodborne Pathogens and Disease about how one government agency communicates risk about deadly bacteria like E. coli O157 in ground beef.
Publications, Web pages and recalls are all used in this risk communication.
Dodd said that although the Food Safety and Inspection Service generally does a good job of keeping meat safe, it's easy for consumers to think the opposite, particularly when a recall tells them that the food in the fridge or pantry may be dangerous. In their study, Dodd and Powell looked at what information consumers can take away from the Food Safety and Inspection Service's Web site, and suggest government agencies can more clearly communicate their role in keeping the food supply safe.
"We as Americans tend to expect more from regulatory agencies than we should, so we set ourselves up for disappointment," Dodd said. "Occasionally, regulatory agencies may create unrealistic expectations by the way they communicate with the public. The message of our paper is to say that the Food Safety and Inspection Service is doing a good job, considering the amount of resources it has. We are trying to open up dialogue about how its role could be communicated more effectively." …
.jpg)
Testing is just one tool that the Food Safety and Inspection Service uses. Its role is to monitor what other stakeholders are doing to keep food safe. "As a regulatory agency, the Food Safety and Inspection Service is monitoring food safety, not necessarily testing it themselves," Dodd said. "I think that's what a lot of us consumers misinterpret. We need to remember that regulatory agencies allocate, not assume, responsibility."
He got an A in the class. And he collects his own cow pies for sampling (left).
Dodd, C.C. and Powell, D.A. 2009. Regulatory management and communication of risks associated with Eschericia coli O157:H7 in ground beef. Foodborne Pathogens and Disease, 6(6): 743-747.
Abstract
Foodborne illness outbreaks and ground beef recalls associated with Escherichia coli O157:H7 have generated substantial consumer risk awareness. Although this risk has been assessed and managed according to federal regulation, communication strategies may hamper stakeholder perception of regulatory efforts in the face of continued E. coli O157:H7 outbreaks associated with ground beef. To mitigate the risk of E. coli O157:H7 contamination in ground beef, the beef industry employs preharvest and postharvest interventions, while the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) provides regulatory oversight. Policy makers must understand and clearly express that regulation allocates, not assumes, responsibility. The FSIS role may be poorly communicated, leading consumers, retailers, and others in the farm-to-fork food safety system to misrepresent risks and creating unrealistic expectations of regulatory responsibility. To improve this risk communication, revisions may be needed in FSIS-related documents, Web pages, peer-reviewed publications, and recall announcements.
Mike Doyle unfairly slammed by wannabe foodies
I don’t really know Mike Doyle, other than the brief chats we have at meetings where our paths cross a couple of times a year and talk about our kids’ hockey-playing ambitions, or the time Amy and I ran into Mike and his wife at the local Orlando supermarket in 2006 cause I guess we were all too cheap to buy hotel food and went to stock up.
I have no idea if Doyle, the Director of the Center For Food Safety at the University of Georgia, is even interested in the job of director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (although I know others who have had the job and it’s not a dream posting) but his name is getting slogged through the mud that is the Intertubes in a manner that does nothing but confirm that journalism shouldn’t be dead just yet. Sometimes it’s important to check things.
Obama Foodorama, a blog apparently set up to fascinate on all things foodie about the new President, says that,
“Dr. Mike Doyle is Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack's leading contender to head USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service. … Those in the know on the pick say the choice of Doyle is a step backward for Sec. Vilsack, who has so far put together a swell team at USDA. … The word "shill" has been used frequently in e mails about Doyle.”
If shill means talking straight about microbial food safety, sign me up.
“How invested is Doyle in the economics of food safety? He actually holds patents on a number of microbiological solutions for disease outbreaks.”
Uhm, professors are supposed to get outside funding. And patents. And speak their mind in a way that can be validated. Doyle has published about 500 peer-reviewed journal articles, which is 500 more than any of his critics
I don’t really know the dude, but I know Doyle’s consistent on food safety.
Meat safety chief: Increase E. coli testing
"We need to address this tougher problem and take some moves there to help protect the American public."
Raymond, a physician who was formerly the chief medical officer in Nebraska, said results from some public health laboratories shows illnesses form non-O157 strains of E. coli are “at least as prevalent” as O157 illnesses. He said the non-O157 strains are harder to detect.
I'm at the same conference, Who's Minding the Store? - The Current State of Food Safety and How It Can Be Improved, hosted by lawyer and barfblog sugar daddy Bill Marler.
Washington Governor Christine Gregoire (right) gave the food safety luncheon address.I chatted with the affable Dr. Raymond after his presentation, and asked him if USDA would consider using video cameras to augment veterinary inspection in slaughterhouses. He said, "ask me after next Thursday."
Raymond, and several of the other speakers stated that the political-media focus on a single food inspection agency was a distraction.
I agree. Whatever is done, it should reduce the number of sick people. That's the measure that counts, and one where progress has stalled.
