20 Years in Food Safety: A Look Back and Beyond

Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network (FoodNet) tracks trends in infections commonly transmitted through food and reports the number of laboratory-confirmed illnesses caused by foodborne infections. By estimating the incidences of foodborne illnesses and their associations with specific foods, and monitoring trends over time, the network provides a foundation for food safety policy and prevention efforts.

The National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System (NARMS) is a public health surveillance system that tracks antibiotic resistance in foodborne enteric bacteria from humans, retail meats, and food animals. NARMS collaborates with similar monitoring efforts in other countries. It also examines foodborne bacteria for genetic relatedness using PFGE and contributes this data to the PulseNet database.

July 1996 – The “Mega-reg”

FSIS enacts the final rule implementing “Pathogen Reduction; Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) Systems” for meat and poultry facilities. This landmark ruling establishes requirements for meat and poultry facilities to reduce the occurrence and numbers of pathogenic organisms on their products through implementation of sanitation standard operating procedures, regular microbial testing, and the development of preventive controls known as HACCP.

Oct. 1996 – Recall of Odwalla juice

E. coli 0157:H7 is identified in stool samples from people with HUS who had drunk Odwalla brand unpasteurized juice. The products had been distributed in several western states and British Columbia.

“As we continue to test and examine illnesses, we will continue to discover foods associated with illness that we never thought caused illness before,” says Jennifer McEntire, PhD, senior director, food and import safety, Leavitt Partners. “A case in point is the outbreak associated with Odwalla apple juice. Apple juice was considered an acidic product: No pathogen was supposed to grow in it. And yet there was an outbreak of E. coli 0157:H7 because the organism changed. We didn’t know that 0157 had a slightly different acid tolerance than other pathogens. Bacteria evolve; that’s what they do.”

Sept. 1997 – CSPI Outbreak Database

The CSPI establishes its Outbreak Alert! database to allow CSPI to independently evaluate problems and progress in the U.S. food supply. The database contains information and analysis on outbreaks that have been fully investigated, i.e., in which both a pathogen and a food are identified. CSPI also regularly publishes Outbreak Alert! and analyzes state reporting practices in reports such as All Over the Map.

“Today the outbreak database contains 7,000 outbreaks, tracking more than 20 years, starting in 1990, and cataloguing more than 200,000 illnesses in the U.S.,” comments DeWaal.

Dec. 1997 – Seafood HACCP rule

The HACCP Regulation for Fish and Fishery Products, requiring processers of fish and fishery products to develop and implement HACCP systems for their operations, becomes effective.

“For food safety in seafood, the major milestone was the 1997 HACCP regulations,” says Steven Wilson, chief quality officer, USDC Seafood Inspection Program. “That has been the model for the FDA putting out other HACCP regulations. After the seafood HACCP regulations came those for fruit juice.”

2000 – Founding of the GFSI

The Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) is an industry initiative devoted to continuous improvement of food safety management systems to ensure confidence in the safety of the food supply worldwide. Experts collaborate in numerous working groups to address food safety issues defined by GFSI stakeholders.

Jan. 2002 – HACCP rules for juice

Effective in 2002 (January 2003 for small businesses), the FDA circulates HACCP rules for production of fruit juice and juice concentrate. Processors making 100 percent juice or a concentrate for subsequent beverage use must apply HACCP principles. For beverages containing less than 100 percent juice, only the juice ingredient must apply to HACCP principles.