DeLauro, CSPI Call for Increased Food Safety in our Nation's Schools
DeLauro, CSPI Call for Increased Food Safety in our Nation's Schools
- New Law Gives Parents Information about Food Safety in Cafeterias Nationwide -
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro (Conn.-3), co-chair of the Congressional Bipartisan Food Safety Caucus, today joined the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) to call for increased food safety in our nation's schools. Last year, Congress passed the Child Nutrition and Women and Infants and Children Reauthorization Act, increasing the number of food safety inspections required in our schools. An educational campaign launched by CSPI today tells parents how to take advantage of the new law and become involved in promoting food safety at the school level.
"With 28 million children eating lunch at school everyday in the United States, I believe government has an obligation to ensure parents have some peace of mind when they send their children off to school in the morning," said DeLauro. "Since children are particularly vulnerable to foodborne illness, schools must be vigilant in their efforts to ensure that cafeterias are not putting children at risk. These changes in law will support parents who want to work with school principals and food-service directors to ensure a safe environment."
The number of school-lunch outbreaks for pathogens like E. coli O157:H7 and salmonella had doubled in the previous decade. The cause of this increase is still unknown. These kinds of outbreaks tend to occur in school cafeterias when foods are mishandled, meats are undercooked and kitchens are not cleaned properly. With 76 million food-related illnesses, 15,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths every year DeLauro helped create a bipartisan Food Safety Caucus in the House to unite Members of Congress and the public and private sectors to inform legislative efforts in the area of food safety.
CSPI is launching a multi-prong educational campaign that includes:
A School Food Safety Bill of Rights advising parents of steps they can take to advance food safety in their child's school.
Assigning grades to various major cities' based on their school inspection reports.
Explaining how various critical violations can cause foodborne illnesses.
"Food safety is a critical public health issue," said DeLauro. "As the School Food-Safety Bill of Rights highlights, children, their parents and concerned groups like local PTA's have a right to this information - to see these reports for themselves, discuss them with the school principal and make sure their cafeterias are clean and safe."
Earlier this year, DeLauro introduced the Safe Food Act, which would consolidate all food safety agencies into a single Food Safety Administration. With 12 different agencies and 35 statutes currently in place to regulate food safety at the federal level, DeLauro feels we need to do a better job of coordinating our efforts to protect the public health.
http://www.house.gov/delauro/press/2005/September/CSPI_food_safety_09_22_05.html