Too often it has been the case that outbreaks have festered  with the agency unable to accurately and quickly trace matching illnesses to a common source of contaminated food. The 2008-2009 Salmonella Typhimurium outbreak caused by Peanut Corporation of America is the latest example. Nine people died in the outbreak, including three whose families are represented by our national food safety law firm, Pritzker Olsen Attorneys.

Now the Office of Inspector General (OIG) for the Department of Health and Human Services has issued a report that attributes part of the problem to a failure of FDA’s 4-year-old Food Facility Registry. The system is supposed to help FDA investigators quickly locate domestic food facilities for inspection during an outbreak.

But OIG inspectors found that almost half of the 130 food facilities they questioned failed to provide accurate information for the registry.

The inspectors also found that 7 percent of selected facilities either failed to register or failed to cancel their registration, as required. Their report said FDA’s regulations do not ensure that the registry contains certain information that may be needed to locate a facility in an emergency.

Specifically, 30 facilities did not provide accurate contact information for the facilities, 26 facilities did not provide an accurate emergency contact phone number, 20 facilities did not provide accurate contact information for the owner or operator, and 14 facilities did not provide accurate contact information for their parent company.

The report said the FDA generally agrees with OIG recommendations to seek additional authority under the law to compel registrations and issue daily fines to violators. The registry should also start to include an up-to-date  listing of who to contact in an emergency, the report said.

The inspector general’s latest report on FDA’s Food Facility Registry is part of an overall body of work on food safety that will include additional investigations. Nine moths ago, the OIG issued a report about its attempt to trace the path of 40 food products through the supply chain. Traceback investigations are crucial to effectively pinpoint which food is making people sick in an outbreak of E. coli, Salmonella or other human pathogen.

The OIG report said that only 5 of the 40 food products it purchased could be traced through each stage of the food supply chain. That report on the traceability of contaminated food also found that 59 percent of selected food facilities did not comply with FDA’s record-keeping requirement.

As founder and  president of the Minneapolis food safety law firm, PritzkerOlsen, P.A., I was an invited guest speaker and panelist. The Produce Marketing Association (PMA) is the leading global trade association serving the entire produce and floral supply chains and this year’s “Fresh Summit” convention attracted almost 20,000 attendees.

I appeared at a program entitled “Food Safety: New Approaches for a New Economy” along with PMA’s Chief Science Officer, Bob Whitaker, Ph.D.

Citing data from the Produce Safety Project at Georgetown University, I noted that from 1990 through 2005, there were at least 713 foodborne illness outbreaks linked to produce. I challenged PMA members to invest heavily in food safety and food safety systems, or risk causing the next big outbreak. I also cautioned members that under existing product liability law, a food product will be deemed defective if it is found to be adulterated with any foodborne pathogen. I urged members to support mandatory federal safety and test standards and employ and strictly follow company-specific HACCP plans.

As an advocate for victims of food safety, our firm is often on the opposite side of the table from representatives of the fresh produce industry. Salmonella produce outbreaks and the spread of E. coli O157:H7 linked to lettuce, spinach, sprouts, tomatoes, peppers and other fresh produce are preventable, yet our network of growing, harvesting, packing and distributing these goods is still fraught with safety gaps.

One thing that an  HUS E. coli lawyer should have in common with any grower or handler of fresh produce is the desire to reduce and ultimately eliminate harmful pathogens from our food.