Some Favor Repealing Food Rules E. Coli Victim Says She Has Little Faith In Government Regulations

E. coli victim Dorothy Thomas believes U.S. Sen. Larry Craig is right to support a federal rollback of food safety rules and other regulations.

“I don’t have a lot of faith in federal regulations, or state ones either,” said the Post Falls resident. “Especially when it comes to the food business.”

Fewer regulations aren’t likely to hurt food safety, she said.

Thomas spent four days in the hospital in 1993 recovering from E. coli poisoning after eating in an area restaurant. Panhandle Health District officials confirm that she had E. coli. But they say they never determined the source.

Thomas, who rarely eats out much anymore, would likely strike a chord with Craig, R-Idaho. Earlier this week, the senator spoke out against new U.S. Department of Agriculture food-safety regulations and for a measure that consumer activists say will all but ruin existing food safeguards.

Senate Bill 343, expected to come up for a vote next week, “will reduce the overall regulatory burden, without harming public health or safety,” Craig said, according to the Congressional Record. If there is an increase in E. coli poisonings it is because the public isn’t well schooled in food preparation, he said.

“The food preparer and consumer always have and still must accept ultimate responsibility for food safety,” he added. Craig could not be reached for further comment.

But his attitude reflects a meat industry attitude that animal feces - the source of E. coli - is a natural part of the food supply and it’s “people’s responsibility to cook it out of their food,” said Donna Rosenbaum, executive director of Safe Tables Our Priority. The California-based national group was established after the 1993 E. coli outbreak.

“I don’t want cow fecal material in my meat,” Rosenbaum said. “I don’t find it in my recipe book.”

Education programs won’t always work. Even the best-educated consumer can’t tell whether the meat in a red sauce in a dish at an Italian restaurant is cooked enough. Cooking isn’t the answer because a certain food temperature doesn’t always mean the bacteria has been killed, she said.

The regulatory overhaul legislation will leave Americans with the inadequate food inspection regulations established in 1906, she argues. And it will mean more cases of E. coli, she predicted.

The bill would require a cost analysis of every regulation. That’s bad news for the public because costs to industry are easy to identify, while benefits to public health are difficult to quantify, Rosenbaum said.

The bill may lead to industry scientists sitting on government panels reviewing regulations. Overall, every proposed food safety regulation will be “looked at through the eyes of industry versus the public health and quality-of-life point of view,” she adds.

Her group doesn’t want to spawn a new federal bureaucracy. It believes it would be better to use existing technology to spot check for microbial contamination. Slaughter houses also need to feel the pressure of inspections on the processing line, where workers are under such tremendous production pressure that they become careless when gutting cattle, Rosenbaum said.

Local health officials agree that, at a minimum, existing food safety regulations should remain. “The general public really doesn’t want to throw out all of these safeguards,” said Larry Belmont, director of the Panhandle Health District, which covers the five counties of North Idaho.

“Inspections are critical not only because of E. coli, but because of improper cooling, and contamination with other products,” such as chemicals, added Ken Babin, supervising environmental health specialist with the health district.

Restaurant inspections, which he oversees, “already are grossly inadequate,” Babin says. That’s because the program is so underfunded that the 12 inspectors are lucky to inspect the area’s 1,400 food establishments - restaurants, supermarket delis and hot dog stands - once a year.

Most of these food establishments welcome the inspections, he said. “We point out things that could be a problem that they weren’t aware of.”

Ultimately, says Mike Casey of the Environmental Information Center, “whether it’s the safety of the food that you cook for the summer barbecue, the air you breathe or the water you drink, someone has to look out for the public interest when it comes to these matters.”

, DataTimes MEMO: IDAHO HEADLINE: Responsibility: the meat of E. coli debate