By Bruce Gil
Following a year of recall after recall due to listeria contaminations that resulted in dozens of illnesses and even some deaths, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced Tuesday it would implement new measures to strengthen its oversight of food processing facilities.
The department’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) said the new measures would fall into three categories: improving its approach to mitigating foodborne pathogens, improving tools and training for inspectors, and tightening its oversight.
“As a science-based regulatory agency, USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service is constantly looking at ways we can and should evolve our processes to protect the public, maintain confidence in America’s food supply, and prevent foodborne illness,” said Dr. Emilio Esteban, USDA under secretary for food safety, in a press release. “These steps are common sense improvements to our work that will strengthen our food safety net as we continue improving the agency’s work to align with the best available science and practices.”
The news comes after several major nationwide recalls this year were linked to outbreaks of listeria. The most fatal of the outbreaks — with 10 deaths — was connected to a Boar’s Head deli meat plant in Virginia.
Some of the FSIS’s specific changes will include testing for additional species of listeria, updating its instructions and training for food safety inspectors, and updating its algorithm for identifying high-risk facilities.
Listeria monocytogenes can cause serious listeriosis infections in young children, elderly people, and people with weakened immune systems. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned that listeria infections could cause miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women.
Even in healthy people, a listeria infection can cause symptoms such as high fever, headaches, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain, and diarrhea.
An estimated 1,600 people in the U.S. get listeriosis every year, with about 260 annual fatalities, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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This article originally appeared here and was republished with permission.
