Fundamental Food Microbiology, Third Edition - Fuad Fathir

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APPENDIX C
Regulatory Agencies Monitoring
Microbiological Safety of Foods in the U.S.
I. FOOD SAFETY REGULATIONS
Annual sales of food in the U.S are more than $400 billion. Before foods reach the
consumers, they are processed and handled conservatively by more than 25,000
processors, 35,000 wholesalers, 250,000 retailers, 500,000 eating establishments, and
in many millions of homes. If one adds to them the various types of pathogens that
can cause foodborne diseases and their natural presence in food animals and birds,
food-producing environments, and among food handlers, it becomes quite apparent
that the chances of a foodborne pathogen being present in a food are high. Yet the
numbers of reported foodborne disease outbreaks and the cases per year are relatively
low. A major reason for this could be the stringent food safety laws in the U.S. 1,2
Before 1906, there were no food laws in this country and marketing of unsafe
food was quite common. In 1906, the federal government passed the Pure Food and
Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act and gave the U.S. Department of Agriculture
(USDA) the power of supervision over the laws. According to these laws, selling of
unwholesome and unsafe foods and meat in interstate commerce was illegal. The
Meat Inspection Act also required inspection of the slaughter and meat-processing
facilities. However, as the burden of proof that a substance had been added to a food
at an unsafe level was with the USDA, the laws were not very effective. In 1938
the federal government passed the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic (FD&C) Act and gave
additional power to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to administer the law.
This law prevents the manufacture and shipment of unsafe and spoiled food and
food ingredients in interstate commerce as well as for export and import. It permits
sale of foods that are pure, wholesome, safe, and produced in a sanitary environment.
According to this law, contamination of certain foods with specific pathogens, such
as Clostridium botulinum and Salmonella spp., is considered to be unwholesome
and selling such food is illegal. (At present several other potential foodborne pathogens,
such as Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Listeria monocytogenes in ready-to-eat
foods, are given the same status.)