Healthy Living

Could shutdown impact food safety investigations?

When there are fewer federal food safety workers, what does that mean to consumers?  There’s been a large reduction in federal workers who track pathogens and identify them in food-related illness outbreaks due to the partial government shutdown, which a food safety expert says has big implications for consumers. Randy Worobo, a professor of food microbiology at Cornell University, says the tracking system in the event of an outbreak would be compromised.

[The FDA primarily oversees inspection of mostly packaged foods and produce. The USDA oversees meat and dairy food inspection and remains fully staffed for that.]

HEALTHY LIVING PROGRAM – Gov. shutdown and food safety inspection (1:30 mp3)