It should come as no surprise that our government is yet again neglecting the food supply. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) just decided to allow diseases to be passed through glued-together meat products, and the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) turned a blind eye to salmonella poisoning in sushi fillets.
In a cost-cutting effort to save scraps of meat that would otherwise be discarded, a white powder called transglutaminase, better known as “meat glue,” is used to recreate full meat steaks. Unlike normal fillets, when pieces of meat are glued together there is no way to ensure that bacteria such as E. Coli are completely wiped out. The USDA does not oversee transglutaminase, either, which allows food-borne illnesses to be added to steaks through the “glue” that binds the meat scraps.
Faced with its decision about gluing meat together, the USDA declared that transglutaminase is safe to eat, despite obvious health risks. California State Senator Ted Lieu is one of many politicians opposed to the declaration. In his opinion, the raw meat industries such as sushi pose too great a risk to consumers to allow glued-together fillets to be served without stricter sanitization regulations.
Of course, the USDA is not the only government agency attracting headlines about poor oversight of the food industry. In late April, 258 people from 24 states were infected with outbreak strains of Salmonella after the FDA failed to enforce meat labeling practices. The illness, which hospitalized 32 of the infected victims, is alleged to have come from a frozen raw yellowfin tuna produced by Moon Marine USA. The fish was labeled “cook before consumption” yet was served raw as sushi. Moreover, the nutrition label on the packaging was strangely formatted, without a formal FDA design or ingredient listing.
After dozens of people complained about disease symptoms, FDA inspectors found that Moon Marine Fishery was negligent in the following areas:
Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs- Controls during cutting, scraping and vacuum packaging to prevent the growth of pathogens and histamine
- Clostridium botulinium and allergen labeling on packaging
- Metal detection
- Monitoring for temperature on shipment vessels and testing for histamine when receiving tuna to make sure temperature wasn't too high on the harvesting vessel
© 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
Comments
Loading...
Benzinga simplifies the market for smarter investing
Trade confidently with insights and alerts from analyst ratings, free reports and breaking news that affects the stocks you care about.
Join Now: Free!
Already a member?Sign in