Supplying the American public with food involves many participants and several different systems that are linked together in a complex chain extending from farm to slaughter to processing plant to table. Contamination of our meat, poultry, eggs, and dairy products can occur at any link in this chain. The winter 1992-93 outbreak of the Escherichia coli 0157:H7 (E. coli) infection in the Western United States focused national attention on the vulnerability of this chain to disease-causing pathogens.

Verotoxin-producing E. coli is just one of many foodborne pathogens causing illness in people in the United States today. Even the most optimistic estimates of illness resulting from food contamination reflect the need for improved food safety in this country. The economy suffers an estimated $7.7 billion to $8.4 billion in annual losses because of the costs of diagnosis, treatment, lost productivity, and deaths associated with food contamination.

Animals are susceptible to infection or contamination with chemical and biological pathogens. Such exposure can take place on the farm, during transport, or at the market on the way to slaughter. Intensified food-animal production systems may increase the risks of such exposure.

These animal production and meat inspection factors, coupled with consumers’ increasing concern about the quality, safety, and nutritional value of their food, have confirmed the need for a better integrated government-industry system that will enhance the safety of our food supply.

To accomplish this, USDA is designing a farm-to-table food safety strategy that will provide a way to minimize pathogen contamination throughout the food production process.

Such a strategy will systematize food safety by creating a process in which USDA looks carefully at the risks at each critical point in the food production process. And once the risks are identified, we can begin reducing or eliminating them in a scientifically sound manner.

The benefits of implementing a more comprehensive national food safety program are many. Such a program will focus on the prevention of human foodborne illnesses through reduction of biological and chemical contamination on the farm, during processing and distribution, and during food preparation, thereby reducing the losses associated with foodborne illnesses and increasing the value of U.S. food products.

The preharvest portion in the food chain is indeed critical. The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has accepted the challenge of providing leadership in preharvest pathogen reduction because we believe we can help reduce microbiological pathogens and chemical contamination in this portion of the food chain. But APHIS’ role in preharvest pathogen reduction must be viewed within the context of a larger national food safety agenda in which other agencies have primary responsibility. We will coordinate our pathogen-reduction activities with those allied regulatory agencies to ensure a government-wide team approach to food safety programs.

Preharvest food safety may not necessarily require additional regulations. It will, however, require agricultural industries to take a more pro-active role in reducing microbiological and chemical contamination. Together, industry and government can develop onfarm techniques to accomplish better decision making and safe production practices.

A number of industry-sponsored quality-assurance programs already contribute to a safer food supply. All these programs focus on actions that individual producers can take to improve the quality and safety of the products they market. These programs provide the foundation for building future preharvest food-safety initiatives.

A Salmonella enteritidis program has been in place for several years and may well serve as a model for programs designed to control other pathogens in other species. It consists of two parts: (1) efforts to trace from egg-associated human outbreaks to flocks of origin, and (2) pilot projects designed to control the organism on the farm through cooperative efforts with producers.

APHIS food safety efforts in the immediate future will focus largely on Salmonella enteritidis and E. coli 0157:H7. There is still very little known about 0157 as it occurs on the farm. Much of our early effort will be to answer some of the questions that exist with an ultimate goal of providing intervention strategies that will reduce the numbers of organisms that reach slaughter and present potential hazards.

Traceback from outbreaks to sources will be a part of almost any food safety effort, although the immediate value of tracebacks is often not obvious. Effective traceback capability requires effective identification systems. While adequate identification systems exist for some classes of livestock, and in some circumstances, there is still much room for progress in realizing uniformly reliable identification.

The framework for the entire food safety continuum will be the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) system. Whether on the farm, in the slaughter plant, or in food preparation, the hazards associated with critical control points must be assessed so that intervention can take place at these critical points.

For fiscal year 1995, beginning next October, the proposed budget for food safety will be $5.7 million. We are presently moving forward with plans for specific projects and actions to begin promptly in October, assuming that the budget figure will be realized.