Common sense, moderation are key on food safety issues

There is often debate over whether or not certain household and food-related products are safe for consumer use or consumption. The controversy often causes media hype that can scare consumers into avoiding common and useful items.

According to Dr. Joseph Drabick, an oncologist with Penn State Hershey Cancer Institute, many of these claims, cause needless worry.

Drabick said there is no known proof to support the assertion that using any plastic container in the microwave is unsafe. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requires laboratory testing for plastic containers to make sure the chemicals do not leak into food to be deemed microwave safe.

"I would just use common sense and use FDA-approved containers," he said.

Tubs that margarine comes in and Styrofoam take-out containers aren't considered safe because they can melt in the microwave. Drabik said that even people who rely heavily on their microwaves do not need to be concerned. But based on the concerns that have been raised about the dangers, Dr. Matthew Kaag, a urological oncologist at Penn State Hershey, suggested erring on the side of caution and recommends using glass or ceramic containers whenever possible.

"Much has been written recently about some of the chemicals that can leach out of certain plastics," he said.

Polycarbonates may release BPA, Styrofoam may release styrene and polyvynyl chloride (PVC) may contain pthalates and dioxin. According to the FDA, the levels of these toxins released into food are not enough to harm a person in an average lifetime.

Artificial sweeteners have also been a topic of debate.
"In my opinion, the 'all things in moderation' rule is in effect," Kaag said. "All sweeteners—artificial and natural—have risks."

Empty calories from sugar contribute to weight gain, diabetes and tooth decay, while there is some evidence that artificial sweeteners may actually increase appetite and stimulate overeating. Kaag believes natural sweeteners like stevia and erythritol may represent a middle ground, but they raise questions about appetite stimulation as well. While some artificial sweeteners have been linked with health problems like cancer, available studies suggest that the amount used in foods are not enough to be harmful.

"I think in general the currently approved sweeteners are safe, but Americans as a whole would benefit from curbing our collective sweet-tooth," Kaag said.

Another food safety issue that is often debated is charred meat. There is some evidence that charring the meat—as can occur when grilling or broiling, for instance—can create cancer-causing carcinogens. But there is something simple you can do to reduce the risk.

"Studies suggest that marinating your meats prior to cooking decreases the likelihood of charring when you cook them on the grill, which reduces the level of these compounds you might ingest," Drabick said.

Drabick adds that that a diet low in animal products and high in fresh fruits and vegetables is probably optimal for health. Fresh fruits and vegetables contain many diverse and complex compounds believed to counteract cancer-causing processes.

When Can We Be Guaranteed Safe Food?

Food safety has come to the top of China's national political agenda during the annual NPC and CPPCC meetings. At today's press conference, the Minister of Agriculture Han Changfu admits that food safety issues are the result of a lack of supervision. CRI's Ding Lulu finds out what ordinary people want the government to do about this issue.

 

57 year-old retiree Li Jianhua was born and raised in the city of Jinan, capital of Shandong Province in east China. His wish to add some green to his life has turned the little hill in front of his city center apartment into a miniature farm, with peach trees, beans, and all sorts of vegetables.

"I just thought it was quite dirty over there and it's in front of my apartment, so I wanted to make it greener. I grew some vines and we can eat all the fruits when they are ripe, so I told my neighbors to help themselves and they love the produce. I turned it into a vegetable farm gradually, I bought cabbage seeds and cucumbers this year."

The popularity of Mr. Li's produce is due to it being completely organic and therefore safe. Li Jianhua only fertilizes his garden with manure which he ferments himself from animal feces. A big food safety scandal in his city two months ago still rattles people's nerves even now. Meat sold in a local Walmart store labeled as donkey meat was actually found to be fox meat. Donkey meat is a popular snack in some parts of China, but foxes are mainly raised for fur while their meat is generally considered inedible. Mr. Li is still upset about the whole scandal because it was uncovered by a customer owing to a lack of sufficient government supervision.

"With the Walmart scandal, if the consumer had not complained and had the meat tested, we would always have been kept in the dark. We ordinary people cannot tell the difference just by tasting the food. Without advanced testing equipment, how can we tell? This shows that the supervision from relevant authorities is not carried out effectively enough to cover the upstream producers."

Li Jianhua also believes food safety remains a major concern as the food sector is highly competitive but lacks proper supervision. He recalls a trip to a nearby farm, where the owner gave him some organic cucumbers together with an industry secret. 

"The farmer told me that I can't eat cucumbers sold on the market because progesterone is used in the farm. It's a type of hormone contained in contraceptive pills. Cucumbers grown using the hormone ripen within days; the flower doesn't even wither when the cucumber is 20 centimeters long. He said all the cucumbers sold on the market with flowers on it are grown using the hormone."

Food safety issues are a bitter topic in China. Poor supply chain management has frequently led to scares in products ranging from baby milk to cooking oil.

Mr. Li says he hopes during the two sessions, the government can do something significant enough to stop the constant food safety scandals.

"My expectation is that the government can strengthen supervision. If it cares about people's health, the supervision over food should be constant. Every batch of food should be checked. The current system consists of random spot-checks; I think it's wrong. The tainted meat scandal involving the big company Shuanghui was revealed by the media instead of government supervision."

Li Jianhua suggests that the current spot-check system gives producers room to maneuver as they self-select which samples to send to regulators.

The labs have already been built, the equipment has been bought, so why aren't they being used more effectively?

FDA says imported food labels must be in Mandarin

TAIPEI -- Companies that sell imported food products should make sure the ingredients are clearly labeled in Mandarin, otherwise they risk a fine of up to NT$3 million (US$99,000), health authorities said yesterday.

Hsu made the remarks at a news conference in Taipei that was called by lawmaker Lin Tsang-min of the ruling Kuomintang, who raised the issue of imported food labeling.According to the Act Governing Food Sanitation, imported food products must be labeled in Chinese, said Hsu Chin-feng, an official at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under the Ministry of Health and Welfare.
Lin said some imported food products in supermarkets and grocery stores in Taiwan do not carry Chinese-language labels and he called for tighter inspections of such products.

Hsu, meanwhile, said the law allows a fine of NT$30,000 to NT$3 million for violations of the Chinese-language labeling regulation.

Is China Blocking FDA Inspectors?

In late 2012 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration asked the Chinese government about the possibility of stationing 20 inspectors in China to supplement the nine staff it already had there at the time. The request wasn't unreasonable. “The crucial ingredients for nearly all antibiotics, steroids and many other lifesaving drugs are now made exclusively in China,” noted the New York Times on Feb. 14. Yet, despite the ever-increasing volumes of exported drugs and food from China to the United States, and a mid-December 2013 agreement with the Chinese government personally brokered in Beijing by U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden, most of those added inspectors are still in the United States, awaiting visas.

FDA spokesperson Christopher Kelley declined to comment on the issuance of the visas, nor why they might have been delayed. In a Feb. 21 email, however, he noted that the FDA has 13 staff members currently based in China and the agency “continues to use its existing in-country staff and inspectors on short-term trips from the United States to ensure the safety of FDA-regulated products from China.”

Though no fault of the FDA, that’s simply not good enough. Of the 278,307 foreign food facilities registered by the FDA, 26,743 are located in China, according to Food Safety News. And those facilities export a lot: Between 2003 and 2012, Chinese exports to the U.S. grew from 2.3 billion to 4.1 billion tons.

According to a Bloomberg News report from December, the FDA can perform 20 to 25 food-related inspections per year in China at current staffing levels. The new staff -– there are to be ten drug and seven food inspectors -- would increase that number to 160, with pharmaceutical inspections receiving a similar boost. That’s a big (if hardly sufficient) improvement.

In December, Christopher Hickey, the director of the FDA’s office in Beijing, told Bloomberg News that the Chinese government had opposed visas for five FDA inspectors intended for China, and conceded that the U.S. didn't know the “full story” as to why. It’s possible that Chinese officials are keenly aware that China remains a major hub for drug counterfeiting and are reluctant to open up their factories to scrutiny. Indeed, the current FDA office in China was opened after a counterfeit blood thinner manufactured in China-caused dozens of deaths and hundreds of injuries in the States.

Chinese newspapers are filled almost weekly with stories of contaminated and counterfeit food; U.S. inspectors probably wouldn't have much trouble uncovering additional cases. Nonetheless, far from being a threat, the added inspectors should be viewed as an opportunity for China's best manufacturers and food producers to earn approval -– quickly –- for the entry of their products into the U.S. market. FDA approval remains the global pharmaceutical gold standard, and the benefits of earning it aren't confined to the U.S. market alone.

Of course, it’s never comfortable to be subjected to foreign inspectors on your own soil. But long-term it’s surely worth the trouble, if only to avoid antagonizing U.S. consumers, and a U.S. Congress increasingly suspicious of China’s commitment to food and drug safety. Approving the FDA visas will benefit both countries, and it’s time that China makes good on its promise to do so.

Largest Outbreak in German History Caused by Imported Strawberries

The largest recorded foodborne illness outbreak in German history was caused by frozen strawberries imported from China, according to a study published in the February issue of Eurosurveillance.

At least 11,000 cases of norovirus were reported by 390 institutions – mostly schools and childcare facilities – between Sept. 19 and Oct. 7, 2012.

Epidemiologists were able to quickly identify dishes containing strawberries prepared in regional kitchens of a single catering company as the source of most of the illnesses. They also further traced the strawberries to one 22-ton lot imported frozen from China.

Investigators estimate that, assuming a similar level of contamination, potentially 11,000 cases of norovirus were prevented by the quick determination that strawberries were the source of the outbreak and the prompt withdrawal of one-half of the lot of strawberries from the market. They noted that additional illnesses were likely prevented since only a fraction of the delivered strawberries had been prepared for consumption, and they praised local public health agencies from the five impacted German states for rapidly communicating local outbreak information to the state level, allowing for a prompt, coordinated outbreak response.

The German Task Force on Food and Feed Safety found that some of the regional kitchens that received the contaminated frozen strawberries had heated them during preparation, while others had not. The study’s authors point out that heating of the berries could in part explain why not all institutions supplied by the regional kitchens that received the berries reported cases of norovirus.

In response to this outbreak, Germany has updated its recommendations for institutions caring for vulnerable populations, including schools, child-care facilities and elder-care facilities, to specifically include advice to heat frozen berries.

The authors note that, in recent years, several large norovirus, Hepatitis A and E. coli outbreaks in the European Union and the United States have been traced to fresh or frozen produce. They point out that trace-back investigations have, at times, been complicated or prevented due to a variety of factors, including political and economic issues.

While the authors state that contaminated water used in the production of the strawberries was likely responsible for the outbreak, they also note that, “A better understanding of how the berries became contaminated is crucial for developing long-term prevention measures upstream from the retailer.”

A Jan. 2, 2013, EU regulation requires that 5 percent of consignments of frozen strawberries imported from China be tested for norovirus.

Nutrition Facts Label to Get Major Updates

For the first time since it was developed in the early 1990s, the Nutrition Facts label is getting a new look.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday introduced plans for updating the label to include larger serving sizes, calorie counts in larger type and “added sugars” values, with the hope that it will help consumers reduce their risks of chronic disease such as cardiovascular disease, obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes and stroke.

“These are very important changes, and our goal here is to design a label that is easier to read and one that consumers can understand,” said FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg at an announcement event with first lady Michelle Obama at the White House. “This proposal is the culmination of years of research, study and requests for public input.”

“As consumers and as parents, we have a right to understand what’s in the food we’re feeding our families because that’s really the only way that we can make informed choices – by having clear, accurate information,” Obama said at the event, which was part of the fourth anniversary celebration of her Let’s Move! campaign to combat the childhood obesity epidemic. “Ultimately, that’s what today’s announcement is all about.”

Key aspects of FDA’s proposed changes include:

• A greater emphasis — with larger and bolder type — on calories.
• Listing an Added Sugars value: The food industry is likely to take issue with this aspect of the proposal. “They do not want consumers to know how much sugar they are adding, especially since so many health authorities are relating sugar intake to obesity.”
• Calories from fat would no longer be listed. (But total, saturated and trans fat will still be required.)
• Updated serving sizes that better reflect what people actually eat. Serving sizes are not a recommendation but simply a lens through which people can understand nutrition.
• The number of servings per package will be more prominent.
• Updated Daily Values for various nutrients and shifting the Percent Daily Value (%DV)  to the left of the label. FDA wants to help consumers visually and quickly put nutrient information in context.
• A slight decrease in the Daily Value for sodium from 2,400 to 2,300 milligrams.
• Amounts of potassium and Vitamin D would be required on the label, while listing Vitamins A and C would become voluntary.

The proposal received “mostly high marks” from the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), but there are further changes the organization would like to see made, namely a further decrease of the Daily Value for sodium to 1,500 milligrams and the inclusion of a Daily Value for added sugars. (CSPI recommends it be set at 25 grams which, at about six teaspoons, is a lot less that the 22 teaspoons the average American consumes each day.)

Marion Nestle, nutrition expert and professor at New York University, told Food Safety News that she reacted to the proposal with “surprise that it’s as consumer-friendly as it is” and “delight that it did everything I hoped it would.”

Of course, consumers will still need to look at the label. “But even a casual glance ought to tell you something about calories,” Nestle said.

“We realize that the label alone won’t magically change how America eats, but we hope that once consumers decide to implement changes in their diet that lead to healthier lifestyles, it will provide them with the tools to be successful,” Hamburg said.

FDA has divided the changes to the Nutrition Facts label into two proposed rules. One updates nutrition information and the label design to help highlight important information. The other covers the changes to serving-size requirements and labeling for certain package sizes.

The proposed rules will be published to the Federal Register and a 90-day comment period opened. FDA plans to finish the final rule by 2015 and then give industry two years to put the new rules into effect.

“We look forward to working with the FDA and other stakeholders as these proposed updates to the Nutrition Facts label make their way through the rulemaking process,” said Pamela Bailey, CEO of the Grocery Manufacturers Association, in a statement. “It is critical that any changes are based on the most current and reliable science.”

Kroger, Safeway Will Nix GMO Salmon Regardless of FDA Decision

Kroger and Safeway, the largest retail grocery companies in the U.S., have reportedly agreed not to sell genetically modified salmon. The decision was released Monday by a coalition of food safety, consumer, health and fishing groups.

The two grocery chains are now part of more than 9,000 stores across the country that have rejected carrying the GM AquAdvantage® salmon regardless of whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approves it for public consumption, which it has not yet officially done.

“By making commitments to not sell genetically engineered salmon, Kroger and Safeway have joined the large number of grocery chains, from Trader Joe’s to Target, that have wisely chosen to listen to the majority of consumers who do not want to eat genetically engineered fish,” said Dana Perls, food and technology policy campaigner with Friends of the Earth, a member of the consumer coalition. “Now Costco, Walmart, Albertsons and other retailers need to catch up and provide their customers with what they want: natural, sustainable seafood that isn’t genetically engineered in a lab.”

“Today’s announcement by major grocery retailers makes it even more clear that there is no demand for GE salmon,” Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Watch, said in a statement. “It’s time for the FDA to deny the application for this unsustainable and unnecessary new genetically engineered food.”

Other retail grocers such as Target, Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s have also pledged not to sell GMO salmon, andCostco is being pressured to join them.

The GMO salmon, developed by MA-based AquaBounty Technologies, contains a growth gene from the Chinook salmon which the company says could allow its GMO salmon to grow to market size in half the time of a conventional Atlantic salmon.

FDA has made a preliminary finding that approving AquAdvantage® salmon for human consumption would not have a significant impact on the environment if, as planned, it is raised in tanks away from the ocean.

Meanwhile, U.S. consumer reaction to the GMO salmon has been critical and extensive. FDA received more than 1 million public comments asking it not to approve the GMO salmon last year. There have also been concerns raised about the overall effect on wild salmon stocks and the potential interbreeding of wild salmon with GMO salmon.