Dec 29, 2021 07:36 PM
https://www.npr.org/2021/12/28/106495151...d-usda-fda
INTRO: When the coronavirus pandemic hit last year, the nation's food supply wasn't spared from the fallout. Restaurants closed, manufacturers raced to implement new protective measures and grocery stores struggled to keep their shelves stocked.
A shift also occurred in the food safety system, the safeguard between American consumers and what they eat. At the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service, agency data shows that regulators reported only about a quarter as many recalls in 2020 as it did the previous year, and in 2021 the agency remains well behind its pre-pandemic pace.
At the Food and Drug Administration, the other government agency that issues food recalls, there was a more modest decrease in the number of recalls issued last year compared with 2019, continuing a downward trend over the past several years. Officials and food safety experts say it's unclear what this all means for consumers.
A drop in the number of recalls could signal a system growing safer, but some fear it could mean pandemic disruptions have allowed potential risks to slip through the cracks. Experts have been encouraged by the fact that there has been no discernible spike in the number of cases of foodborne illnesses, and they say that the number of recalls is likely shifting because of COVID-19's far-reaching effects on the economy.
"It's like I tell my graduate students: If you're doing an experiment, you need to change one variable at a time," said Don Schaffner, a professor of food science at Rutgers University. "Here, we've changed a whole lot of variables at once." (MORE - details)
INTRO: When the coronavirus pandemic hit last year, the nation's food supply wasn't spared from the fallout. Restaurants closed, manufacturers raced to implement new protective measures and grocery stores struggled to keep their shelves stocked.
A shift also occurred in the food safety system, the safeguard between American consumers and what they eat. At the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service, agency data shows that regulators reported only about a quarter as many recalls in 2020 as it did the previous year, and in 2021 the agency remains well behind its pre-pandemic pace.
At the Food and Drug Administration, the other government agency that issues food recalls, there was a more modest decrease in the number of recalls issued last year compared with 2019, continuing a downward trend over the past several years. Officials and food safety experts say it's unclear what this all means for consumers.
A drop in the number of recalls could signal a system growing safer, but some fear it could mean pandemic disruptions have allowed potential risks to slip through the cracks. Experts have been encouraged by the fact that there has been no discernible spike in the number of cases of foodborne illnesses, and they say that the number of recalls is likely shifting because of COVID-19's far-reaching effects on the economy.
"It's like I tell my graduate students: If you're doing an experiment, you need to change one variable at a time," said Don Schaffner, a professor of food science at Rutgers University. "Here, we've changed a whole lot of variables at once." (MORE - details)