#onsum | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

andersunmenschlich · 28 days ago

Text

Trump and Food Safety (a brief history)

TL;DR The Heritage Foundation said, "Gut food safety regulations"—and Trump did. Now a lot of our food is unsafe.

"A fact sheet issued by Donald Trump's campaign on Thursday said he would roll back food safety regulations if the billionaire businessman is elected president, arguing they are burdensome to farmers and 'overkill.'

"The campaign later deleted the fact sheet from its website and issued a new release that did not include the food safety language."

…

"The language in the Trump campaign fact sheet mirrors, almost word for word, parts of a May report from The Heritage Foundation that criticizes increased regulation under President Barack Obama." —AP News, Sept. 2016

"Trump's Deregulation Push Is Setting the Stage for Major National Disasters" … "The lessons of history are clear: deregulation is driven by corporate greed, dangerous for American families and potentially disastrous for our economy." —Public Citizen, Sept. 2017

"Trump's Latest Regulatory Overhaul Raises Food Safety Fears

"The Trump administration unveiled a new plan on Friday to overhaul USDA rules for meat inspection at pork processing plants, proposing changes that have drawn praise from industry leaders and criticism from advocates who fear they will harm workers and increase food-borne illness."

…

"[C]onsumer and worker-safety advocates say the proposed changes will harm those already working in a dangerous industry and make food contamination more likely.

"'Every worker will be processing more hogs per hour, because everything will go faster. For workers, it will definitely increase the number of serious injuries they already face,' said Debbie Berkowitz of the National Employment Law Project, a Washington-based research and advocacy group.

"Berkowitz, a former Labor Department official under Obama, said the plan will also reduce federal oversight that is critical to protecting public health, leaving the industry to police itself. 'There will just be fewer inspections going on, and there are serious concerns regarding food safety because of that,' she said." —NBC News, Jan. 2018

"Enforcement of food and drug safety regulations nosedives under Trump administration

"The US regulator of food and drug safety has seen steep declines in several markers of enforcement under the Trump administration, according to a new analysis in the journal Science.

"The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) sends 'warning letters' for tainted food, improperly advertised dietary supplements or even violations of human subjects' protections in clinical trials.

"The number of letters issued has fallen by 33% under Donald Trump, compared with the most recent equivalent period under the Obama administration." … "The number of warning letters also fell significantly between Trump's first and second years. … "The FDA argues that it has other ways of enforcing food and drug safety, but experts interviewed by Piller were alarmed at the rate of decline in the warning letters and other measures." —The Guardian, July 2019

"It was more than a century ago that Upton Sinclair went undercover in Chicago's stockyards, resulting in his reported novel The Jungle. A blood-splattered portrait of the American meatpacking industry, it documented the misery and filth of the city’s slaughterhouses, where miserable workers churned out cuts of rotten meat in treacherous, rat-infested conditions. 'The air would be full of steam, from the hot water and the hot blood, so that you could not see five feet before you,' Sinclair wrote. 'And then, with men rushing about at the speed they kept up on the killing-beds, and all with butcher-knives, like razors, in their hands well, it was to be counted as a wonder that there were not more men slaughtered than cattle…'

"We have The Jungle to thank for certain food-safety regulations today. Protections for meat-industry workers, though, would come later—and President Trump has been trying to undo even that modest progress. His administration last year authorized faster 'line speeds' (the number of animals killed per minute) for poultry plants, and began looking into doing the same for beef. New U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) regulations that take effect in December will allow the same at pork plants, while also cutting 40 percent of government inspectors and delegating inspections to employees, who may not have undergone any kind of training in food safety." —The New Republic, Oct. 2019

"For the fifth consecutive year, Food Safety Magazine has compiled a list of food safety recalls announced by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as well as the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA FSIS).

"While it's always possible that some recalls may fall through the cracks, our tally confirms 337 recalls issued in 2019—212 by FDA and 125 by USDA FSIS.

"Much like 2018, last year seemed to experience a heightened number of food recalls—so much so that there seems to be some level of fatigue."

…

"…a new outbreak of Escherichia coli O157:H7 likely linked to romaine lettuce… undeclared allergens… Milk… Tree nuts… Eggs… Soy… Sulfites… wheat and peanuts… Listeria, Salmonella, and E. coli… Foreign Material Contamination…"

…

"According to CDC's official list, 17 multistate foodborne outbreak investigations occurred in 2019. While these outbreaks were tied to everything from fresh produce to raw ground beef—and even one Listeria outbreak with no known source more than 2.5 years after the first confirmed illness was reported—last year's list doesn’t top 2018, which had 24 outbreak investigations—the highest of any year since CDC’s tracking which dates back to 2006." —Food Safety Magazine, March 2020

"In fewer than five months, ever since the Covid-19 outbreak was declared a pandemic, the Trump administration has taken a number of significant steps to deregulate the food system. Citing unprecedented disruptions, federal agencies have rolled restrictions back on various segments of food production—from labor protections for meatpacking workers to food labeling requirements for manufacturers."

…

"President Trump himself has repeatedly invoked the coronavirus pandemic as his rationale for loosening the rules governing food production and distribution. However, his administration made its deregulatory ethos clear far earlier: In January of 2017, Trump directed his agencies to repeal two rules for every new one they introduced—a mandate that dovetails neatly with our current reality."

…

"Whether for the time being or for good, here are seven notable ways that the Trump administration has cut red tape in the food system.

1. Faster chicken, with a side of tumors … 2. OSHA no longer tracking the spread of workplace illnesses … 3. EPA lets polluters police themselves … 4. Food labels can have some inaccuracies, as a treat … 5. Cutting the net on fishing regulations … 6. Truckers can drive longer into the night … 7. Employers don't have to come clean when they bust unions" —The Counter, July 2020

"Federal agencies under Trump have slowed down food safety enforcement across the board. In the first two-and-a-half years of the administration, the number of warning letters sent by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to companies dropped by about a third compared to the previous administration. Warning letters are one key tool used to prevent tainted items from entering the food supply. The number of letters sent from the FDA's Food Safety & Applied Nutrition division dropped 37 percent.

"In 2017, the FDA denied a petition filed by environmental groups to ban perchlorate, a chemical that can be dangerous for children and developing fetuses, in food packaging, and it dismissed concerns from outside scientists about levels of toxic chemicals known as PFAS in food.

"In early 2020, industry groups celebrated when the administration installed Mindy Brashears as the top food safety official. Brashears' past research was funded by the National Cattlemen's Association and the National Pork Board, and she holds several patents related to food contamination, which watchdog groups say means she could profit off of her position.

"During the pandemic, the FDA suspended routine inspections of both foreign and domestic food processing facilities, dairy farms, and animal feed processors. Meanwhile, the USDA indicated it would move to permanently raise poultry line-speed limits, a controversial move that poses potential dangers for workers as well as food-safety hazards. The USDA is also finalizing a rule that will privatize meat inspections for swine." —Civil Eats, Nov. 2020

"Trump has launched an all-out attack on the FDA. Will its scientific integrity survive? … "In the past two weeks alone, the Trump administration has installed a right-wing journalist best known for her gun-rights advocacy as the FDA's top spokeswoman — empowering her to aggressively reshape the FDA's typically nonpolitical, straight-laced public messaging. On Saturday, Trump, with no evidence, accused the FDA of taking part in a 'deep state' political conspiracy to harm his reelection campaign. And two key White House aides, including Trump's chief of staff, have taken the rare step of criticizing the agency publicly, with one reportedly advocating for the approval of an unproven plant extract as a Covid-19 cure."

…

"The most striking change at the agency is the appointment of ultra-political conservatives — an emerging pattern that some FDA insiders see as the start of a takeover of an otherwise largely apolitical agency.

"The appointment of Emily Miller, a right-wing activist who has ping-ponged between government and conservative journalism for the past two decades, has particularly dispirited FDA staff, senior agency officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity."

…

"Another hiring earlier in 2020 has similarly troubled FDA insiders: that of David Gortler, a former policy adviser at the Heartland Institute, a conservative think tank. Gortler has extensive experience in drug regulation and has served at the FDA previously, but is also a known agency critic: In a 2016 STAT op-ed, he advocated for 'a good personnel sweep,' calling a number of FDA colleagues 'petty people who have personal agendas' and who 'abuse' small drug companies."

…

"FDA staff have been equally alarmed by overt attempts from Trump and other administration officials to influence decisions about emergency authorizations for medical products that would otherwise be based solely on safety and evidence. Heightening that alarm: Trump's baseless new assertion that the agency is part of a 'deep state' plot intent on hurting his reelection odds by intentionally slowing down medical product approvals." … "Trump, reportedly, has expressed his wish that the FDA issue a similar authorization for oleandrin, a plant extract, be approved for use as a Covid-19 treatment. There is no scientific backing for his interest: Instead, Axios reported, Trump’s interest stems from the recommendation of Mike Lindell, a major Trump backer who works as the CEO of MyPillow.Com and recently acquired a stake in a company developing the experimental dietary supplement." —Stat News, Aug. 2020

"During his four years as President of the United States, Donald Trump was remarkably active and often successful in sabotaging the health and safety of the nation’s workers.

"Trump, as the AFL-CIO noted, targeted Medicare and Medicaid for $1 trillion in funding cuts, eroded the Affordable Care Act (thereby increasing the number of Americans lacking health insurance coverage by 7 million), and 'made workplaces more dangerous by rolling back critical federal safety regulations.'

"Trump's administration not only refused to publicly disclose fatality and injury data reported to the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), but slashed the number of federal workplace safety inspectors and inspections to the lowest level in that agency’s 48-year history. According to one estimate, with these depleted numbers, it would take 165 years to inspect every worksite in the United States.

"Furthermore, the administration repealed rules requiring employers to keep and report accurate injury records, proposed eliminating the U.S. Chemical Safety Board, and cut workplace safety research and training programs. The Trump administration also proposed revoking child labor protections, weakened the Mine Safety and Health Administration’s enforcement of mine safety, and reversed a ban on chlorpyrifos, a toxic pesticide that causes acute reactions among farmworkers and neurological damage to children.

"In April 2019, the Trump Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service put into place a rule to allow an unlimited increase in the line speeds for hog slaughter. In an industry already notorious for endangering workers — with more than 4,700 occupational injuries and more than 2,700 occupational illnesses per year — this was a sure-fire recipe for undercutting worker safety. Even so, the Trump administration completely ignored the impact on workers' safety and health before issuing the rule.

"Downplaying workplace hazards, the administration scrapped new rules on styrene, combustible dust, infectious diseases, and silica dust, a mineral that can cause silicosis, an incurable and often fatal lung disease carrying an increased risk of lung cancer. Eager to reduce business expenditures, it also canceled a requirement for training shipyard and construction workers to avoid exposure to beryllium, a known carcinogen. In addition, the administration delayed and proposed a rollback of the Environmental Protection Agency's chemical risk management rule, thus increasing health dangers for workers, the public, and first responders.

"The Trump administration's callous disregard for the health and safety of workers became particularly apparent during 2020, as the coronavirus pandemic swept through American workplaces. Trump refused to issue binding rules requiring businesses to institute safety measures to protect nurses, bus drivers, meatpacking and poultry workers, and other particularly vulnerable workers. Quite the contrary, in April 2020 Trump issued an executive order to require the nation's meat production plants to stay open. This fact, plus an April 2020 authorization by Trump’s Department of Agriculture for 15 large poultry plants to increase their line speed, led by September to the sickness of more than 40,000 meat and poultry workers and to the deaths of hundreds." —Camas-Washougal Post-Record, Aug. 2024

"Following massive recalls and outbreaks, Americans are losing confidence in food safety regulations." —Salon, Sept. 2024

#US politics #food safety #Heritage Foundation #Trump #actions speak louder than words #our food safety regulations have been gutted #of course we're not super confident in them anymore #they need to be built back up

0 notes