Food Safety Suffers from Fragmented System

Press Release

Food Safety Suffers from Fragmented System

Washington , D.C. - Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro (Conn.-3) issued the following statement on the recall of almost five million Totino's and Jeno's frozen pizzas with pepperoni toppings because the pepperoni may be contaminated with E. coli. Authorities are investigating whether 21 E. coli-related illnesses in 10 states are connected to the frozen pizzas.

"What is particularly disturbing about this recent recall involving frozen pizzas is that although the recall was announced in November, E. coli-related illnesses were reported as early as mid-July. The troublesome aspect of this recall is the jurisdictional confusion that may have arisen during its investigation. Ensuring the safety of frozen cheese pizza is the responsibility of the FDA, however, frozen pepperoni pizza would fall under the jurisdiction of the USDA. We can only hope that this jurisdictional confusion did not result in any delays in determining the source of the E. coli contamination."

"Unfortunately, this recall provides a clear example of how fragmented the federal food safety system is, and emphasizes the need to address this situation as Congress moves forward with food safety legislation."

Source