Food Safety Attorney Fred Pritzker discussed how cuts in produce testing will affect food safety with Minnesota Public Radio’s Cathy Wurzer on Friday morning. Funding for the Microbiological Data Program (MDP) has been cut, so the program will cease to exist after December 31, 2012. What kind of affect will this have on food safety? Not a good one, Pritzker sad.
Attorney Fred Pritzker
“We know people will be sick becasue of this action,” Pritzker said. “Why would we be doing that?”
The Microbiological Data Program (MDP) is a national foodborne pathogen monitoring program that was cerated in 2001. Operated by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), the program basically brought the USDA’s meat and poultry monitoring program to produce. At a cost of about $4 million per year, MDP worked in cooperation with state agriculture departments and other federal agencies, to manage the collection, analysis, and reporting of foodborne pathogens on selected agricultural commodities including alfalfa sprouts, cantaloupe, bagged lettuce and spinach.
MDP has been an economical and effective program that has detected 30 foodborne illness outbreaks, Pritzker said. Despite its success, the program is a victim of cost-cutting measures in the federal budget for 2013. To eliminate it is “penny wise and pound foolish,” said Pritzker.
