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A special food safety unit set by US President Barack Obama has promised to introduce stricter rules for the production of eggs, poultry, beef, leafy greens, melons and tomatoes to reduce instances of salmonella and E. coli contamination.

A report by the Food Safety Working Group warns that the long-term decline in food-borne illness in the US appears to be stalling.

‘While the American food safety system is among the best in the world, batches of ground beef, peppers, peanut butter, pistachios, spinach, and even cookie dough have been associated with serious disease in recent years,’ says the report.

Under the new rules egg and poultry farmers will have to improve the testing and refrigeration of eggs. The US agency that inspects meat, The Food Safety Inspection Service, will have to increase the level of sampling of minced beef products to identify E. coli contamination. Producers of leafy greens, melons and tomatoes will be given tougher standards within two years.

A new network to help all the different agencies that regulate food safety communicate better will be introduced, as well as a better tracing system.

The US imports food from more than 150 different countries through more than 300 ports of entry.

By 2015, it is estimated that one in five Americans will be over the age of 60 and therefore more susceptible to certain types of infections.

The working group says that the US food safety system is not sufficiently flexible or co-ordinated to work effectively.

Source: CIEH