http://www.easternecho.com Congressman John Dingell, D-Mich., held a telephone briefing with reporters last Wednesday to discuss the recent E. coli outbreak involving romaine lettuce. en-us Gryphon 2.3.1-dsw (pewabic)/Foundry5 Wed, 26 May 2010 09:58:49 -0400 webmaster@easternecho.com http://www.easternecho.com/index.php/comment/view/885 In order to protect fresh produce supply, we must address vulnerability gaps in our current system at any point along the distribution chain up to the consumer that would allow accidental contamination of fresh produce. Ultimately the current USDA/FDA inspection process must be revamped in order to prevent food borne illnesses in fresh produce. I spent years as an Executive Vice President for a major terminal business on the East Coast. My primary responsibility was purchasing millions of dollars in California vegetables a year, including Mexico during the winter. I know how this works. I notified the CDC in late 2003 that green onions were the likely source of the hepatitis A outbreak and that they were from Mexico, several days before the FDA banned the importation of green onions into the United States. If I can be of any further assistance, feel free to contact me at ls40095@gmail.com Tue, 25 May 2010 11:23:47 -0400 http://www.easternecho.com/index.php/comment/view/885 http://www.easternecho.com/index.php/comment/view/887 The FSMA legislation that Congressman Dingell is rightly calling for the timely passage of DOES change the way the FDA will conduct its inspections (with more inspectors) and will hold food processors and handlers accountable for both their practices and their ability to accurately track the sources and destinations of their goods. The traceability requirements alone would have shortened the time gap between notification and recall in the instace cited above. Wed, 26 May 2010 09:58:49 -0400 http://www.easternecho.com/index.php/comment/view/887