Food and Drug Administration - Regulation of food safety
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
As the major agency responsible for monitoring health and disease, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) develops disease prevention strategies that are based on sound scientific evidence, monitors ongoing health problems, develops public health policies, and promotes healthy behaviors. It provides expertise to local health agencies and has emergency teams ready to go into the field in cases of major outbreaks of foodborne illness. Through its Office of Food Safety, it keeps track of individual cases of foodborne illness and partners with other agencies to investigate outbreaks. The CDC estimates that as many as 76 million people in the United States experience a foodborne illness each year, and approximately 5,000 die from it. The CDC operates the FoodNet survey system to monitor the impact of foodborne illnesses on public health. These illnesses are difficult to track accurately because many cases are never reported. Also, it may not be clear in particular cases if an illness was due to a food or water source, or if it was spread by some other means.
Environmental Protection Agency
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is responsible for protecting the American public from any health risks caused by eating foods contaminated with pesticides. Before any new pesticide can be applied to a food crop, it must be thoroughly tested for safety and approved by the EPA. The pesticide can only be used on the specified crop and must be applied in the manner approved by the EPA.
Pesticides play a major role in modern agriculture, protecting crops from the effects of weeds, insects, fungi, and rodents.
COUNTING THE CASES
Most cases of foodborne illness are so mild that the individual does not consult a physician. No testing is done to determine what organism caused the illness, and no public health system is notified. Yet the CDC estimates that 76 million people are affected each year in the United States. How do scientists have any idea of the numbers of cases of infection, and how many are due to various types of pathogens?
Since 1996, the CDC has operated FoodNet, the Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network. It represents a cooperative effort among the CDC, USDA, FDA, and 10 state health departments. Its purpose is to provide accurate and ongoing estimates of the extent of foodborne diseases in the United States, to provide a breakdown of infections by type of pathogen, and to monitor trends in illness over time.
The geographic areas in the survey include more than 15% of the population.
Data are collected on all laboratory-confirmed positive specimens for nine food-related pathogens, along with information on the person’s age, gender, and whether the illness resulted in hospitalization. This information is supplemented by surveys of physicians, laboratories, and the general population within the study areas. Using these additional data, researchers are able to estimate, for each positive specimen, how many other people see their physicians without undergoing specimen testing, and how many people in the general population are sick with a suspected foodborne illness but do not visit their physician. Statistical methods incorporating these data allow researchers to estimate the extent and types of foodborne illnesses in the entire U.S. population.
The information allows the CDC to take actions aimed at disease prevention where they will have the largest impact. Also, the information allows them to track the impact of their interventions based on whether numbers of cases of illness go up or down following the intervention.
In recent years, the numbers have remained fairly constant, suggesting that further interventions are needed in order to reduce the impact of foodborne illnesses.