Sanitary standards need to be set for pallet industry
The need to set national sanitary standards on the pallet industry to curb the threat of contamination to the US food supply has been highlighted in a report by the Produce Safety Project, which found that acute foodborne illness costs the US more than US$150bn annually in healthcare, workplace and other economic losses.
The report, Health-Related Costs from Foodborne Illness in the United States, jointly written by the PEW Charitable Trusts and Georgetown University, follows independent tests by Intelligent Global Pooling Systems (iGPS), a Florida-based pallet rental company, which showed that wooden pallets harbour dangerous levels of bacteria and pathogens including Salmonella, E. Coli and Listeria.
The PEW study found the total annual cost to US residents of E. coli-related illnesses is more than US$1bn annually. Listeria-related illnesses cost US$8.8bn, while Salmonella-related cases cost nearly US$15bn.
Annual health-related costs of foodborne illness are the highest in Pennsylvania at US$6.7bn, followed by Maryland (US$2.8bn), Louisiana (US$2.3bn), Maine (US$683m) and the District of Columbia (US$314m).
“The costs associated with foodborne illness are substantial,” said report author Robert Scharff, a former US FDA economist who is now an assistant professor in the Department of Consumer Sciences at The Ohio State University. “This study puts the problem of foodborne illness in its proper perspective and should help facilitate reasonable action designed to mitigate this problem.”
Bob Moore, ceo of iGPS, said: “This report, combined with our independent tests, again underscores that the American people need a greater sense of security that their food and drug supply is safe from all contamination threats, including those posed by wood pallets.
“It is imperative that Congress requires all pallets meet minimum sanitary standards, many of which are already acknowledged by the wood pallet industry.”
Tests by iGPS in US cities found Salmonella, E. coli, Listeria and extremely high bacteria counts on scores of wood pallets pulled at random from public markets and retail food outlets. In New Orleans, for example, 43% of wood pallets tested at an independent scientific laboratory came back positive for E. coli, Listeria and/or Salmonella. IGPS says the results are consistent with similar findings by USDA and FDA.
The FDA drew attention to the health risks posed by wood pallets in its "Guidance for Industry: Control of Listeria monocytogenes in Refrigerated or Frozen Ready-To-Eat Foods" (February, 2008).
The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 76 million food-borne illness cases occur every year in the US. Salmonella bacteria cause at least 40,000 illnesses and an estimated 400 deaths. E. coli makes more than 70,000 Americans ill every year and Listeriosis is responsible for 2,500 illnesses and 500 deaths in the US annually.
Contact www.igps.net www.pewtrusts.org www.MakeOurFoodSafe.org www.fda.gov/Food/NewsEvents/ConstituentUpdates/ucm047255.htm