Political Quotes

“last Friday the Nation's largest grower of organic produce announced a recall of fresh spinach products that they feared could be linked to the deadly e-coli outbreak. So far, the Food and Drug Administration has reported that a 77-year-old woman from Wisconsin has died, 14 persons have suffered from kidney failure, and at least 94 individuals have fallen ill after eating prepackaged spinach suspected of being contaminated with e-coli. That is a total of 109 people in 19 different States. This is not the first time produce has been contaminated with e-coli. According to the Center for Science in the Public Interest, between 1998 and 2004, there were 492 e-coli outbreaks that were linked to fruits, vegetables, and fresh produce products such as prepackaged salads. In fact, there were 86 outbreaks in the year 2004 alone. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the CDC, estimates that as many as 76 million people suffer from food poisoning in our country each year. Of those individuals, 325,000 will be hospitalized, and more than 5,000 will die. Children and the elderly are especially vulnerable. Despite these statistics, our food supply is still the safest in the world. However, there are widening gaps in our food safety system due to the fact that food safety oversight has evolved over time and has spread across so many different governmental agencies.…”