HOW SAFE IS OUR FOOD? NOT SAFE ENOUGH, SAYS PIRG CONSUMER WATCHDOG TEAM, AND IT’S TRENDING IN THE WRONG DIRECTION

Unsafe food recalls in the U.S. are trending the wrong way. From 2013 to 2017, they rose 10 percent overall, and a whopping 83 percent for the most hazardous meat and poultry recalls.

These were the chief findings in “How Safe Is Our Food?”, a report released by U.S. PIRG Education Fund, the research and policy arm of our national network, on Jan. 17. The report reached millions of people through coverage on CBS This Morning, NBC News and USA Today.

“We need to improve our systems for making sure that recalled products are taken off store shelves,” CALPIRG Executive Director Emily Rusch told NBC News. “And that consumers who have bought those products are adequately notified.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that 1 in 6 people in the U.S. contract foodborne illnesses each year. To stem the problem, our Consumer Watchdog team is calling for public health standards for agricultural water, a ban on Salmonella in meat, and a better recall system to get dangerous food out of people’s homes.

Read the report here

Photo Caption: CALPIRG Executive Director Emily Rusch appeared on NBC News to announce the release of the “How Safe is Our Food?” report. 

Photo Credit: NBC Bay Area