Greater Precaution at a Farm Level would Help Eliminate Food-borne Illnesses

Dear Future President,

I am writing this letter to bring your attention to an important issue which is often left neglected and unspoken about. This problem is food-borne illnesses. “Food-borne diseases cause an estimated 76 million illnesses, 325,000 hospitalizations, and 5,000 deaths each year in the United States” according to the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta Georgia. This is a serious problem because our people are getting sick and losing their lives because of diseases that could be prevented. We could prevent these diseases and decrease the high number of illnesses tremendously if we had more inspections and safety processes a farm level.

Food-borne illnesses are a huge problem for Americans today. Researching this topic, I was surprised by the large amount outbreaks of infections from food-related pathogens, bacterias, and viruses including multiple strains of Salmonella, E. Coli, Listeria, and Toxoplasma. One that caught my attention was a Salmonella Enteritidis outbreak in 2010. “This Pathogen was found by the FDA in two egg farms in Iowa, leading to multiple food recalls. Samples collected at the facilities matching the DNA fingerprint of the outbreak strain have been detected from manure and traffic areas in and around the facility (such as walkways, equipment, and other surfaces) as well as from the mill providing finished feed to pullets raised at and distributed at both of the egg facilities.” While reading this article called “Food Safety on the Farm: Federal Programs and Legislative Action” by Renee Johnson of the Congressional Research Service, I was shocked! The outbreak was caused by filthy conditions in a place where food is made, where it should definitely be sterile and clean. Even though there was disease causing bacteria in the food and all over the facility, the food was still sold to the people, causing people to become ill. Why was there an outbreak causing people to become sick that was contributed to by factors that could’ve been dealt with so easily? If we had more inspectors or precautions, or even more cleaning and sanitizing, we could’ve prevented the sickness and death of thousands of innocent people who were just trying to enjoy a meal. After putting forth a lot of thought and research, I’ve come up with the conclusion that in order to help prevent food-borne illnesses from spreading, we need to take more action at a farm level. We could do this by having more inspections on farms to ensure that no harmful bacteria are present, and even simply by having more precautions and regulations such as testing the product before it is sold and making sure everything is clean, disposed of properly, and when in the homes or restaurants of our people, cooked properly.

Some may wonder, “how much will this cost? Is the cause worth the money?” or even, “do we have the money for this? How much of my tax money will go to this?” The answer is, we’ve tried this before. The Food Safety Modernization Act was signed into law on January Fourth, 2011. The goal was to give the FDA wider authority to conduct more inspections and keep contaminated products from being sold. The problem with this was that “some in the House of Representatives, including Jack Kingston of Georgia (who is also the lead republican on the subcommittee that oversees the FDA’s budget) have threatened to underfund the law. They argue that the cost of the regulations--US$1.4 billion over the next five years--outweighs the benefits.” according to an article called “What Comes First? An attempt to rework US food safety regulations will fail without sufficient funds” By Nature Publishing Group. “Their sums are short-sighted: the Pew Charitable Trusts in Washington DC estimates that food-borne illnesses cost the United States $152 billion a year, not including the cost to industry in lost sales and lawsuits when outbreaks surface…. The FDA’s budget has failed to keep up with the expansion of its mandate. Without adequate funding for inspectors, the food-safety law will have no teeth.” There was a law in place to help with this issue but it did not get enough funding so it cannot help as much at all is it should be helping. Without the proper funds, this law can't do anything productive to help the people, but it is in fact worth the money, as the price for paying for the damage of these food-borne illnesses costs way more than the price for the preventative measures we should be taking.

In conclusion, Mr./Mrs. President, this is an issue that deserves your attention. Hundreds of thousands of people are getting sick due to preventable illness caused by bacteria from food. If we make sure there's more inspections and regulations at a farm level, we could help prevent many illnesses and deaths due to food-borne illnesses. Each and every life is valuable, we should help in any way we can. The dirty conditions of our farms are in need of attention. There where our food is produced, you eat it, I eat it, everyone eats it. We should make sure it’s coming from a safe source. The price to do this is low, compared to the amount we've been spending to help pay for the effect of these illnesses. With your help, Mr./Mrs. President, we can save lives.

Sincerely, Kylee R.