Citing metal in chicken strips and E. coli in romaine, study calls for better food safety rules

Growing rates of hazardous meat and poultry recalls and other food contamination point to the need for greater food safety measures, according to a new consumer interest study.

The number of meat and poultry recalls in the most hazardous class — food consumption that could lead to serious illness or death — grew 85% from 2013 to 2019, according to the report released Tuesday by U.S. PIRG (Public Interest Research Group). The total number of meat and poultry recalls rose 65% since 2013.

“Consumers shouldn’t have to worry that their next bite might sicken or kill them, especially when food safety agencies leave so many solutions in the pantry,” said Emma Horst-Martz, education fund campaign associate at PennPIRG, the Pennsylvania arm of the national state-based federation. “Our analysis suggests that when commonsense protections are implemented, our food gets safer.”

In 2019, for the third year in a row, E. coli contamination was linked to romaine lettuce, the report said. The report noted a 2019 outbreak that sickened 167 people in 27 states.

In terms of the increasing amount of hazardous animal products that made it onto store shelves, the report states that 17 million pounds of poultry and eggs were recalled in 2019.

Among the most hazardous recalls, over 15 million pounds of meat and poultry products were recalled last year because they contained metal, plastic and other materials, according to the independent consumer group. That was 75% of the weight of all meat recalled, the group found.

The report recommends some reforms to upgrade food safety, including establishing clear enforcement consequences for recurring violations of food safety protections, stiffer requirements on retailers to notify consumers of recalls of unsafe products, setting health-based bacterial load levels for agricultural water to prevent contamination and requiring testing of water used for irrigating produce.

“The food we eat should be free of contamination from farm to fork,” Horst-Martz said. “Food safety agencies can — and should — take several actions to make sure our food won’t make us sick, including banning salmonella in meat, requiring testing for agricultural water, and implementing more aggressive food safety plans.”