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A2 UP FRONT
Saturday 30 March 2019
Emails show FDA worry after romaine outbreaks
By CANDICE CHOI to the fall outbreak was not
AP Food & Health Writer a member.
NEW YORK (AP) — After Food poisoning outbreaks
repeated food poisoning tied to leafy greens have
outbreaks tied to romaine been an ongoing concern
lettuce, a U.S. food safety for health officials. The fail-
official shared his concerns ure of industry measures to
in an internal email, saying stop outbreaks shows the
the produce industry's wa- lack of a clear solution, and
ter testing "failed in an epic even regulators aren't sure
and tragic way." how to fix the problem, said
How the industry tests wa- Timothy Lytton, a food safe-
ter to grow leafy greens is ty expert at Georgia State
"unacceptable" and needs University.
to change, James Gorny, a This month, the FDA de-
senior adviser for produce layed a regulation requir-
safety at the Food and ing produce growers to test
Drug Administration, wrote water for E. coli — which
to agency leaders. is how the leafy greens in-
The message last Novem- dustry has been monitoring
ber, obtained by The As- its water. The presence of
sociated Press through a In this Jan. 31, 2012 file photo, a farm worker carries heads of romaine lettuce in a field near E. coli doesn't necessarily
public records request, Holtville, Calif. make people sick, but can
came days before the Associated Press signal potentially harmful
strains. The agency said it
agency warned people to They also show how the needs more time to con-
avoid romaine ahead of agency leveraged the cri- sider whether it's the most
Thanksgiving. Just months sis to pressure for voluntary practical option.
earlier in April, another E. changes, even as it tries "That's essentially just step-
coli outbreak linked to ro- to figure out its own water ping back and asking in-
maine had sickened more testing rules. dustry to take responsibility
than 200 and killed five. In a statement, the FDA for public safety," said Sar-
That was later linked to an said it has been working ah Sorscher of the Center
irrigation canal near a mas- with growers and state for Science in the Public In-
sive cattle lot in Arizona; agencies to improve safety terest. Gorny's emails came
the fall outbreak was linked since the outbreaks, includ- during the fall outbreak
to a water reservoir in Cali- ing testing of romaine. The tied to California growing
fornia. In both cases, regu- agency said new regula- regions. In a message in
lators never confirmed how tions that include farm in- late November, he noted
the water became con- spections and sanitary rules additional, recent illnesses
taminated. for workers also should help with a strain similar to the
Though the FDA has pub- stem outbreaks. earlier spring outbreak.
licly called on the leafy Industry groups said they're The FDA said it never tied
greens industry to step up expanding existing safety those additional illnesses
safety, the emails offer a practices for their mem- to a food. But at the time,
stark view of the agency's bers. Joining the industry Gorny called it a "near miss"
longstanding frustrations agreements is voluntary, that shows the problem
with continued outbreaks. however, and a farm linked wasn't fixed.q
