29 Oct 2013 SA’s food safety hopelessly neglected by govt- say experts
Some 3 000 people die from food poisoning annually in the US. In Africa, the figure is more likely around 2 000 people a day. In South Africa, implementation of food safety laws has been described as ‘dismal’ by experts. E coli, salmonella and listeria are the biggest threats to food safety, causing brain damage, paralysis and even death in severe cases.
Speaking at the Farm to Fork to Court symposium in Johannesburg recently, Cobus Brink, standards manager at Intertek, said that there was no political will in South Africa to implement and enforce food safety laws.
He cited the case of peanut sorting/grading facilities and peanut butter manufacturers who, under regulations (R1060, published under the FC & D Act in 2009), were obliged to be HACCP compliant by 13 November 2010. However, according to a report published by the European Health and Consumer Directorate General (Audit conducted from 15 TO 24 March 2011 – Report No: DG(SANCO) 2011-6036), ‘only two out of eleven peanut processors approved for export had a certified HACCP system, despite it was a legal requirement’.
“Furthermore, there’s very little understanding of food safety among our politicians,” said Brink, referring to the talks in parliament over the recent food labelling scandal, which, he noted were “very unproductive”.
US food safety legal expert, Bill Marler, said that food safety depended on politics and who was in office. “Politicians control the system and how strict the laws are and if they’re implemented. If they’re not holding people liable for transgressions, no one is.”
According to Statistics South Africa, 5% of deaths in 2010 were caused by intestinal infectious diseases, including food poisoning. Brink noted that thousands of cases went unreported as medical practitioners “don’t report outbreaks as is the law, and the health department keeps no records as they should”.
Food safety lawyer Janusz Luterek of Hahn & Hahn said that even if a case did reach the court, it was difficult to get a conviction.
He reminded delegates that importers of contaminated goods remained responsible for the product. “If you imported it, you’re liable for it. Don’t blame the manufacturer in China if the product has caused food poisoning.”
Marler said that the last decade had seen a dramatic increase in food safety scares from products manufactured in China. “The food business is a competitive market. One needs to consider quality versus quantity and how much money is spent on food safety, since shareholders are expecting a profit. Unfortunately, making CEOs pay attention to food safety is difficult.”
He described a case in the US where two cantaloupe (spanspek) farmers had been charged with introducing adulterated food, contaminated with listeria, into the food chain, which resulted in the death of 33 people in 2011.
Update on the cantaloupe case
Eric and Ryan Jensen, former owners of Colorado-based Jensen Farms, people pleaded guilty on Tuesday 22 October to federal criminal charges stemming from one of the deadliest outbreaks of food-borne illness in the US.
US prosecutors last month charged them with six counts each of introducing adulterated food into interstate commerce tied to shipping tainted melons to markets in 2011.
In May 2011, the Jensens began washing the farm’s cantaloupes with devices used to clean potatoes and failed to use a chlorine spray feature that kills deadly bacteria, prosecutors said.
Both men pleaded guilty in US District Court in Denver to six counts of adulteration of a food and aiding and abetting. Each faces not more than one year in federal prison and a fine of up to $250,000 per count.
The brothers initially pleaded not guilty to the charges, but later agreed to change their plea in a deal with prosecutors.
“The defendants have now admitted that they failed to protect the public from deadly bacteria on their cantaloupe, in violation of the law and critical FDA requirements,” US Attorney John Walsh said in a statement.
“Their actions resulted in tragedy nationwide, and profound economic consequences for an entire industry, and has exposed them to these serious criminal consequences.”
Forrest Lewis, attorney for Eric Jensen, said the brothers thought the cleaning operation they used “was safe and inspected and adequate.”
In addition to the deaths, the listeria outbreak linked to the farm in the southeastern corner of Colorado led 147 people across 28 states to be hospitalised, authorities said. One woman suffered a miscarriage.
The Jensens filed for bankruptcy in 2012 and suspended farming operations amid a raft of lawsuits by people who were sickened or whose family members died from listeria infections connected to the tainted cantaloupes.
The elderly, pregnant women and people with compromised immune systems are at highest risk for listeria, whose symptoms include fever and gastrointestinal distress and which is the third leading cause of death in food-borne illnesses, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In a lawsuit filed last week, the Jensens blamed a California-based food safety audit firm, Primus Group, that approved the cleaning operation. The Jensens, who have said they were saddened by the outbreak, said they will donate to the victims any money they recover from the lawsuit. The brothers are due to be sentenced in January.
Sources: Farmers’ Weekly, Reuters