Food Safety or A Rotten Egg by Any Other Name

By Robert Sherriff
Retired Science Teacher
Placer County Democratic Central Committee Member
See Call to Action at the end of the article!

Well now, it’s a curious thing — a nation that puts men on the moon and cheese in a spray can somehow can’t keep its lettuce from killing folks.

Seems the fine folks up in Washington have decided that food safety is just a luxury for the oligarchs. The Trump administration took a mighty big axe to the Department of Health and Human Services on April Fool’s Day — and I reckon the joke’s on all of us who prefer our carrots unpoisoned and our lunch not laced with listeria.

The Food and Drug Administration was cutting millions in state-level food safety money, right when the Government Accountability Office was hollering for more. Naturally, they responded by rolling back the Food Safety Modernization Act — a law that said, “Hey, maybe don’t water the spinach with manure.”

And if you think things couldn’t get more backwards, well, pull up a chair. The FDA under Trump just let go of 2,500 folks, including scientists who tested food and people whose job was to warn you that your applesauce might be full of (insert favorite poison here). The Centers for Disease Control — you know, the folks who figure out why your stomach feels like it swallowed a porcupine — we also lost nearly a whole division of outbreak responders. Seems the administration’s new plan is to let any sickness spread, wait till the media lets them know about all the pain and suffering it caused, and then offer up a prayer.

Now, the Secretary says no "frontline" workers were let go, which is mighty comforting until you realize that scientists, data analysts, and the folks who run the place apparently don’t count. That’s like saying the captain’s still on board while the rest of the crew's been thrown over.  It seems “frontline” workers means those unqualified folks appointed by Trump and so being unqualified seems to be the only way to get job security these days.

To top it off, they’ve gone and postponed key parts of food safety law — like traceability and pathogen testing — because, heaven forbid, the food industry be asked to always do their jobs properly. Instead, they’ve given us an “honor system” — which, last I checked, wasn’t worth a hill of beans when it comes to companies guarding profits.

All the while, foodborne illness is sneaking through the back door — E. coli here, listeria there — quiet as a thief in the night, because the watchdogs have all been sent packing. This will of course allow for another round of tax cuts for the 1% oligarchs.  Please note that there are so few of the 1%ers that I wouldn’t be surprised if the current EPA attempts to list them as an endangered species.

You can’t help but marvel at the logic of it all. It’s as if the fire chief looked at a burning house and said, “We’ll save money by laying off the firefighters and focus on selling furniture that is “smoke free” to raise money for tax breaks for those at the top end who promise to use their every increasing tax break to increase employment for luxury yacht construction folks.

See, the trouble with food safety is it ain’t glamorous. You can’t cut the ribbon on an inspection report. But once you’ve had a bellyful of tainted meat or your kid’s in the hospital because of bad applesauce, you start wishing someone had done the unglamorous work of keeping your food safe. It’s not just bad policy. It’s a long-term disaster, or a personal disaster if you get sick. A government that can’t protect the dinner plate isn’t worth the napkin it’s printed on.

 CALL TO ACTION:

If reading this far hasn't motivated you, read further and before you get food poisoning, take action and notify your local representative and request that they repeal the cuts to the Department of Health and Human Services and the related cuts to the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) and the CDC (Center for Disease Control).  In addition, tell your representative that they need to reinforce the Food Safety Modernization Act that was rolled back. For the 3rd Congressional District (Placer, Plumas, Sierra, Nevada, Alpine, Mono, Inyo and parts of Yuba, El Dorado and Sacramento counties, contact congressman Kiley at (202) 224-3121.