FDA Commissioner says Agency Needs More Authority

FDA Commissioner says Agency Needs More Authority

www.google.com

Food and Drug Administration chief Margaret Hamburg, beset with an egg-and-salmonella food safety challenge, said Monday the agency must move from a reactive to preventive enforcement strategy. ...

"We need better abilities and authorities to put in place these preventive controls and hold companies accountable," Hamburg said as she discussed the salmonella poisoning outbreak and the recall of roughly a half-billion eggs from two Iowa egg distributors.

(visit the link for the full news article)

It used to be that Salmonella infected only the digestive tract - so good hygiene prevented getting infected.

But things change, and microbes mutate.

Now, Salmonella is inside the eggs, not just on the outside of the shells...

Even though the chickens look healthy, they can pass this type of salmonella to their eggs. The salmonella grows inside eggs, not just on the shell.

Sacramento Examiner

According to the US Food Safety and Inspection Service:

The bacteria, Salmonella enteritidis ... silently infects the ovaries of healthy-looking hens, contaminating the eggs inside the chicken before the shells are even formed, according to FSIS.

How Does Salmonella Get Inside Eggs?

Should the FDA be given more authority?

Will that change our Brave New Biological World?

Doubt it.

www.google.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

reply to post by soficrow


More authority to define and direct what Americans can eat, drink, medicate and do, with, and for..... our own bodies and well being.
Just another arm of the Ministry of Happiness so the companies can operate with impunity and complete control.

We're getting closer to 1984 everyday.

and I can't conceive of how Salmonella get's inside the eggs. Perhaps it was in the chicken feed and somehow was passed thru the chickens digestive tract to settle in the eggs and even perhaps in the effluent.


and from an old M.A.S.H. episode....."Sam and Ella" "who are they"



[edit on 23-8-2010 by whaaa]

My question is, why should the FDA be given more authority when it doesn't even handle properly the authority it's already got?

The FDA has become a tool for Big Pharma's agenda. We have so many examples of FDA incompetence and outright unethical acts that I'm appalled there hasn't been a complete overhaul done of that agency. The fact that there hasn't been one yet just goes to show how deep the corruption is within our government.

We should be taking away some of their authority until they can prove to the people they are working for us and not against us.

Originally posted by whaaa
...and I can't conceive of how Salmonella get's inside the eggs.

Oh dear, don't get me started!

Short answer/rant: Same way it gets inside carrots and lettuce and spinach and a bunch of other things it's NOT supposed to be inside of and never was before. The food and agricultural industries, and GM, GE, and all of them have buggered things so much, they've changed our world beyond all recognition at the molecular and nano- levels.

Hang on for the ride. We aren't even near the really exciting part yet.

PS. Thanks whaaa.




[edit on 23-8-2010 by soficrow]

I wonder if the Food Bill that was passed recently has anything to do with this. Salmonella is destroyed when cooked so I'm not worried about it.

I do agree that there needs to be an overhaul of how eggs are harvested, besides being in-humane, a lot of corners are cut to maximize profits. I prefer fresh eggs from free ranging chickens, though I have met many people who seem to be conditioned to the standard white eggs and dislike the free range eggs.

Originally posted by NightGypsy
My question is, why should the FDA be given more authority when it doesn't even handle properly the authority it's already got?

Short answer: It can't. It's hands are tied. And more authority won't help because it's the whole system that's FUBARed.

The FDA has become a tool for Big Pharma's agenda.

AND big corporate food production, and food processing. AND cattle, hog and chicken and egg producers. AND the GM, GE industries. and, and and.

Did you know - the newest and worst food-borne diseases aren't even regulated? And the FDA can only act on regulated microbes? The list hasn't been updated in decades - Only the oldest microbes are on the list - and most of them have mutated so much they don't even qualify for FDA intervention anymore.

We have so many examples of FDA incompetence and outright unethical acts that I'm appalled there hasn't been a complete overhaul done of that agency. The fact that there hasn't been one yet just goes to show how deep the corruption is within our government.

Yes - that and the fact that things are so bad, they've all pretty much given up and don't really think there's anything they can do - so they've stopped even trying.

We should be taking away some of their authority until they can prove to the people they are working for us and not against us.

Either that or completely overhaul our entire economic system, end all that vertical and horizontal integration and clip those pesky monopolies wings.

Aha, the egg scare exposed !
Thank you.
FDA, the quality of our food and drugs is worsening monthly, what is up with that?
Signed, ordinary Mom.
PS I can do that job, and better, where do you want us to submit resumes, FDA?

Originally posted by jrod
...Salmonella is destroyed when cooked so I'm not worried about it.

Fine. But you SHOULD worry about other strains and diseases that are NOT destroyed by cooking - and by infectious food-borne agents that simply mutate when exposed to heat.

FYI - None of the new bad strains are even regulated.

And btw - No, I don't think the problem can be solved by giving the FDA more authority - imo, the global food industry needs to be overhauled, from production and processing through distribution and including all the medical and personal hygiene product industries too. Otherwise, it's a pointless exercise designed only to reassure the uneducated, unaware public.

Originally posted by CestLaVie
Aha, the egg scare exposed !
Thank you.
FDA, the quality of our food and drugs is worsening monthly, what is up with that?

New bugs and new strains of old bugs are appearing regularly - and they're not regulated.

Worse, it looks like the "evolutionary-crisis" just jumped a big notch:

Study: Microbes ate BP oil water plume

The bacteria that "ate" the hydrocarbons in the oil plume belongs to the same family (Protobacteria) that just appeared inside eggs (salmonella)!!!

This is NOT good.

...The family is Proteobacteria; it was a new kind of salmonella that can now infect eggs (not just sit on the shell).

Proteobacteria:

The Proteobacteria are a major group (phylum) of bacteria. They include a wide variety of pathogens, such as Escherichia, Salmonella, Vibrio, Helicobacter, and many other notable genera. [2] Others are free-living, and include many of the bacteria responsible for nitrogen fixation.
Because of the great diversity of forms found in this group, the Proteobacteria are named after Proteus, the Greek god of the sea, capable of assuming many different shapes.[1] [3]

...so this recently mutated (NOT genetically engineered!) oil-eating protobacteria can digest hydrocarbons so efficiently that the oil plume disappeared inside of 2 weeks.

Also, it can not only survive at 41 degrees F, but function at super-capacity in the cold; so they're harvesting fish and shell fish from the area, and almost guaranteed, this super-protobacteria will hitchhike on the catches, and get onto the mainland where it will find another veritable feast of hydrocarbons... and who knows, maybe mate with one of its cousins.

Ahhh. The Circle of Life...