1 00:00:02,400 --> 00:00:07,160 Speaker 1: Happy Saturday. Food safety has been a recurring news topic 2 00:00:07,200 --> 00:00:10,440 Speaker 1: here in the US over the last several months, and 3 00:00:10,720 --> 00:00:13,720 Speaker 1: we also have a forthcoming episode related to it. So 4 00:00:13,840 --> 00:00:17,439 Speaker 1: today we are replaying our episode about the role the 5 00:00:17,520 --> 00:00:22,200 Speaker 1: Space Program had in the development of formalized food safety procedures. 6 00:00:22,800 --> 00:00:25,520 Speaker 1: In this episode, we talk about a food recall that 7 00:00:25,640 --> 00:00:28,800 Speaker 1: was fairly easy to track because of the food manufacturer's 8 00:00:28,840 --> 00:00:32,720 Speaker 1: record keeping, and we described that as sounding fairly normal. 9 00:00:33,680 --> 00:00:36,520 Speaker 1: That might see ironic in the wake of multiple recent 10 00:00:36,560 --> 00:00:39,720 Speaker 1: food born illness outbreaks in the US connected to produce, 11 00:00:40,159 --> 00:00:42,400 Speaker 1: in which consumers have not had a good way of 12 00:00:42,440 --> 00:00:44,839 Speaker 1: knowing whether the produce they are buying comes from a 13 00:00:44,880 --> 00:00:49,600 Speaker 1: producer connected to the outbreak. The Food Safety Modernization Act, 14 00:00:49,680 --> 00:00:54,000 Speaker 1: passed in twenty eleven, required rules for meaningful food traceability, 15 00:00:54,320 --> 00:00:57,880 Speaker 1: including for produce, but those rules were not written until 16 00:00:57,920 --> 00:01:02,400 Speaker 1: twenty twenty two. The FDA was supposed to start enforcing 17 00:01:02,440 --> 00:01:06,520 Speaker 1: these rules on January twentieth, twenty twenty six, but industry 18 00:01:06,560 --> 00:01:10,040 Speaker 1: pushback and budgetary issues have pushed that date until July 19 00:01:10,200 --> 00:01:13,720 Speaker 1: twenty twenty eight, although some legislators are asking for that 20 00:01:13,800 --> 00:01:17,959 Speaker 1: to be rescinded. As of when we are recording this also, 21 00:01:18,360 --> 00:01:21,640 Speaker 1: there have been major cuts to various government departments and 22 00:01:21,720 --> 00:01:25,600 Speaker 1: programs involved in food safety under the second Trump administration. 23 00:01:26,720 --> 00:01:30,120 Speaker 1: This episode originally came out on December fifth, twenty twenty two. 24 00:01:30,680 --> 00:01:36,360 Speaker 1: Enjoy Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a 25 00:01:36,400 --> 00:01:46,400 Speaker 1: production of iHeartRadio Hello, and Welcome to the podcast. I'm 26 00:01:46,440 --> 00:01:51,520 Speaker 1: Tracy V. Wilson and I'm Holly Frye. Lately, a series 27 00:01:51,600 --> 00:01:54,280 Speaker 1: of things has made me go, I should really do 28 00:01:54,360 --> 00:01:59,000 Speaker 1: some kind of podcast about food safety. This is not 29 00:01:59,160 --> 00:02:01,360 Speaker 1: the first time I've had that thought, but it is 30 00:02:01,440 --> 00:02:04,160 Speaker 1: the first time that the food safety podcast has made 31 00:02:04,200 --> 00:02:07,160 Speaker 1: it into the pipeline. One was a video that I 32 00:02:07,200 --> 00:02:10,520 Speaker 1: stumbled over on TikTok in which somebody was recounting their 33 00:02:10,600 --> 00:02:13,560 Speaker 1: experience of being tracked down by the Health Department because 34 00:02:13,600 --> 00:02:16,919 Speaker 1: they worked in food service and had been diagnosed with salmonilla. 35 00:02:17,400 --> 00:02:19,720 Speaker 1: There were just a whole lot of people in the 36 00:02:19,720 --> 00:02:23,480 Speaker 1: comments who did not know that if you have salmonella, 37 00:02:23,560 --> 00:02:27,239 Speaker 1: you can spread it to other people through handling food. 38 00:02:28,040 --> 00:02:29,960 Speaker 1: So that's a thing that can happen, just as in 39 00:02:30,000 --> 00:02:33,720 Speaker 1: case folks don't know. There was also a recent episode 40 00:02:33,760 --> 00:02:37,560 Speaker 1: of the podcast saw Bones on E Coli and Yet 41 00:02:37,639 --> 00:02:41,680 Speaker 1: Another was a different episode of the podcast Maintenance Phase 42 00:02:42,320 --> 00:02:46,440 Speaker 1: about a big vegan crumble recall that happened in June. 43 00:02:46,520 --> 00:02:49,080 Speaker 1: I'm also just generally interested in this because I spent 44 00:02:49,120 --> 00:02:52,280 Speaker 1: a couple of years of my early career writing about 45 00:02:52,320 --> 00:02:56,040 Speaker 1: food safety and sanitation. We have had episodes on the 46 00:02:56,040 --> 00:02:59,440 Speaker 1: show before that talked about food safety or food contamination 47 00:02:59,600 --> 00:03:03,360 Speaker 1: in some way way, like prior hosts episode on Harvey 48 00:03:03,480 --> 00:03:07,960 Speaker 1: Washington Wiley and his poison Squad, or our episode on 49 00:03:08,040 --> 00:03:10,960 Speaker 1: the Swill Milk scandal of eighteen fifty eight, or our 50 00:03:11,000 --> 00:03:15,040 Speaker 1: episode on the history of canning. This is more about 51 00:03:15,440 --> 00:03:19,360 Speaker 1: the development of a more systematic approach to food safety 52 00:03:19,800 --> 00:03:22,280 Speaker 1: that was developed and has been adopted in a lot 53 00:03:22,280 --> 00:03:25,520 Speaker 1: of the world. Is kind of the underpinning of food 54 00:03:25,560 --> 00:03:30,080 Speaker 1: safety systems. It was developed for NASA to make sure 55 00:03:30,080 --> 00:03:34,440 Speaker 1: that astronauts did not get food poisoning in space. We're 56 00:03:34,440 --> 00:03:36,400 Speaker 1: not going to be talking in any kind of graphic 57 00:03:36,440 --> 00:03:39,480 Speaker 1: detail about what happens when people get food poisoning or anything. 58 00:03:39,520 --> 00:03:41,600 Speaker 1: But I know that a lot of stuff about food 59 00:03:41,640 --> 00:03:46,560 Speaker 1: can be complicated for people. So if hearing about a 60 00:03:46,600 --> 00:03:49,720 Speaker 1: lot of food borne illnesses and spread of disease through 61 00:03:49,720 --> 00:03:53,080 Speaker 1: food is like a trouble point for you, then this 62 00:03:53,120 --> 00:03:56,880 Speaker 1: one might be a little challenging. Of course, we need 63 00:03:56,880 --> 00:03:59,400 Speaker 1: to set the scene with things that happened before the 64 00:03:59,440 --> 00:04:03,600 Speaker 1: space probe. There have been religious and cultural practices that 65 00:04:03,720 --> 00:04:06,520 Speaker 1: had some influence on food safety all around the world, 66 00:04:07,000 --> 00:04:10,960 Speaker 1: likely for all of human history. These include Jewish and 67 00:04:11,040 --> 00:04:15,680 Speaker 1: Islamic dietary laws, cultural and religious expectations around things like 68 00:04:15,720 --> 00:04:20,280 Speaker 1: cleanliness and hand washing, and cultural taboos related to which 69 00:04:20,320 --> 00:04:24,680 Speaker 1: plants and animals are considered okay to eat. Surviving texts 70 00:04:24,720 --> 00:04:28,400 Speaker 1: from Egypt to India, China, Greece, and Rome, and oral 71 00:04:28,440 --> 00:04:32,000 Speaker 1: traditions from other parts of the world all include methods 72 00:04:32,040 --> 00:04:34,840 Speaker 1: for preserving and preparing food to ensure that it will 73 00:04:34,839 --> 00:04:38,160 Speaker 1: be safe to eat, and governments have also had an 74 00:04:38,240 --> 00:04:42,400 Speaker 1: interest in legally regulating various aspects of food quality and safety, 75 00:04:42,800 --> 00:04:45,680 Speaker 1: going all the way back to the ancient world. A 76 00:04:45,720 --> 00:04:48,720 Speaker 1: lot of what we're talking about today, though, mostly has 77 00:04:48,839 --> 00:04:53,159 Speaker 1: roots in the nineteenth century, when multiple factors made food 78 00:04:53,200 --> 00:04:58,040 Speaker 1: safety into a more international issue. The Industrial Revolution had 79 00:04:58,120 --> 00:05:02,560 Speaker 1: led to a wave of urbanisationation and industrialization, especially in 80 00:05:02,600 --> 00:05:06,479 Speaker 1: North America and parts of Europe. The growth of cities 81 00:05:06,600 --> 00:05:09,960 Speaker 1: meant that more people were buying and eating foods that 82 00:05:10,040 --> 00:05:14,640 Speaker 1: had been raised, grown, and processed somewhere else, rather than 83 00:05:14,680 --> 00:05:18,279 Speaker 1: foods that were mostly local to their own communities. The 84 00:05:18,320 --> 00:05:22,520 Speaker 1: food system itself also became a lot more industrialized, with 85 00:05:22,680 --> 00:05:26,520 Speaker 1: more large scale facilities for things like processing and canning. 86 00:05:27,320 --> 00:05:31,159 Speaker 1: A lot of this very rapidly growing food industry wasn't 87 00:05:31,320 --> 00:05:35,200 Speaker 1: regulated in any way, and a push to cut costs 88 00:05:35,279 --> 00:05:39,080 Speaker 1: and bring in bigger profits led to a sharp rise 89 00:05:39,320 --> 00:05:43,120 Speaker 1: in things like food adulteration and other problems in a 90 00:05:43,160 --> 00:05:47,599 Speaker 1: lot of companies. So people were naturally concerned about whether 91 00:05:47,800 --> 00:05:50,520 Speaker 1: what they were buying and eating was safe and wholesome, 92 00:05:51,200 --> 00:05:55,200 Speaker 1: and as food imports and exports increased, nations also became 93 00:05:55,240 --> 00:05:58,040 Speaker 1: focused on whether what they were receiving was high quality. 94 00:05:58,640 --> 00:06:00,719 Speaker 1: We talked about this a little bit in our previous 95 00:06:00,760 --> 00:06:04,680 Speaker 1: episode on butter versus margarine. Authorities in the UK became 96 00:06:04,720 --> 00:06:08,200 Speaker 1: concerned about whether butter produced in the US was genuine 97 00:06:08,600 --> 00:06:12,479 Speaker 1: or whether they were getting quote, spurious compounds resembling butter. 98 00:06:13,839 --> 00:06:17,000 Speaker 1: As another example, in eighteen ninety, Congress made the US 99 00:06:17,080 --> 00:06:21,320 Speaker 1: Department of Agriculture responsible for ensuring that beef exports to 100 00:06:21,400 --> 00:06:24,599 Speaker 1: Europe were safe, and an inspection system was set up 101 00:06:24,640 --> 00:06:28,000 Speaker 1: in eighteen ninety one. In the wake of all of this, 102 00:06:28,320 --> 00:06:32,919 Speaker 1: international trade organizations also started bringing together different types of 103 00:06:32,960 --> 00:06:35,880 Speaker 1: food producers, with one of their goals being to ensure 104 00:06:35,960 --> 00:06:40,880 Speaker 1: quality and consistency of their products. The way that people 105 00:06:41,040 --> 00:06:45,160 Speaker 1: thought about food safety and purity was also evolving during 106 00:06:45,160 --> 00:06:48,760 Speaker 1: this time. A lot of the earliest laws and standards 107 00:06:48,760 --> 00:06:52,320 Speaker 1: about food safety had to do with visible issues, like 108 00:06:52,520 --> 00:06:56,920 Speaker 1: animals that were obviously ill, food that was discolored or 109 00:06:56,960 --> 00:07:01,040 Speaker 1: moldy or adulterated, or processing facilities that were just filthy. 110 00:07:01,120 --> 00:07:05,159 Speaker 1: But as medical and scientific communities started to accept the 111 00:07:05,240 --> 00:07:09,240 Speaker 1: germ theory of disease, it became clear that contamination that 112 00:07:09,320 --> 00:07:13,120 Speaker 1: might make people sick was not necessarily visible to the 113 00:07:13,200 --> 00:07:18,120 Speaker 1: naked eye. Scientists and researchers started working toward establishing more 114 00:07:18,200 --> 00:07:22,320 Speaker 1: robust guidelines for food quality and safety, and governments began 115 00:07:22,400 --> 00:07:27,320 Speaker 1: passing laws incorporating these and other recommendations. For example, an 116 00:07:27,360 --> 00:07:31,280 Speaker 1: international conference of food chemists and other scientists was held 117 00:07:31,280 --> 00:07:35,680 Speaker 1: in Vienna in eighteen ninety one. Afterward, the Austro Hungarian 118 00:07:35,680 --> 00:07:39,600 Speaker 1: Empire established a Scientific Commission on Food, which led to 119 00:07:39,600 --> 00:07:42,600 Speaker 1: the creation of a system of food codes known as 120 00:07:42,640 --> 00:07:47,840 Speaker 1: the Codex Alimentarius Austriacus. Drafting these codes was a time 121 00:07:47,920 --> 00:07:51,120 Speaker 1: consuming process, and the first edition of the codex was 122 00:07:51,120 --> 00:07:54,320 Speaker 1: published in nineteen eleven. This was one of the Western 123 00:07:54,360 --> 00:07:59,840 Speaker 1: world's first comprehensive food codes. Although legislators in the United 124 00:07:59,880 --> 00:08:03,400 Speaker 1: States started trying to introduce food and drug laws in 125 00:08:03,440 --> 00:08:08,560 Speaker 1: the eighteen eighties, at first these efforts didn't really go anywhere. Instead, 126 00:08:08,800 --> 00:08:13,520 Speaker 1: new food regulations in the US have overwhelmingly followed some 127 00:08:13,680 --> 00:08:17,360 Speaker 1: kind of big crisis or scandal. Prior hosts of the 128 00:08:17,400 --> 00:08:21,320 Speaker 1: show talked about doctor Harvey W. Wiley's efforts to determine 129 00:08:21,360 --> 00:08:25,560 Speaker 1: whether food additives were safe by feeding them to human 130 00:08:25,680 --> 00:08:30,080 Speaker 1: test subjects, who became known as his poison squad. Although 131 00:08:30,160 --> 00:08:34,560 Speaker 1: Wiley and others recommended legislation be passed to protect people, 132 00:08:34,600 --> 00:08:38,240 Speaker 1: and his experiments did get some attention, the thing that 133 00:08:38,480 --> 00:08:43,679 Speaker 1: really pushed lawmakers to act was Upton Sinclair's novel The Jungle, 134 00:08:43,760 --> 00:08:46,960 Speaker 1: which was published serially in nineteen oh five and then 135 00:08:47,000 --> 00:08:50,280 Speaker 1: as a book in nineteen oh six. And although this 136 00:08:50,559 --> 00:08:54,160 Speaker 1: was a novel, Sinclair based it on undercover research that 137 00:08:54,200 --> 00:08:58,400 Speaker 1: he had done in Chicago's meatpacking plans. Sinclair was really 138 00:08:58,400 --> 00:09:02,120 Speaker 1: focused on the truly a working conditions in these plants, 139 00:09:02,480 --> 00:09:04,880 Speaker 1: but when the public read his novel, people were far 140 00:09:04,960 --> 00:09:09,640 Speaker 1: more outraged by descriptions of them as just revoltingly unsanitary. 141 00:09:10,400 --> 00:09:14,040 Speaker 1: For example, one passage described meat soaking in vats of 142 00:09:14,160 --> 00:09:18,120 Speaker 1: chemicals before it was canned, with leftover scraps being dumped 143 00:09:18,120 --> 00:09:21,040 Speaker 1: onto a filthy floor and pushed into a drain where 144 00:09:21,080 --> 00:09:23,360 Speaker 1: they could be caught and mixed back in with the 145 00:09:23,400 --> 00:09:27,839 Speaker 1: next batch of meat. In response to public outcry, Congress 146 00:09:27,880 --> 00:09:30,280 Speaker 1: passed both the Pure Food and Drug Act and Meat 147 00:09:30,320 --> 00:09:33,840 Speaker 1: Inspection Act in nineteen oh six, and these became the 148 00:09:33,880 --> 00:09:38,880 Speaker 1: first broad consumer protection laws in the United States. Initially, 149 00:09:39,080 --> 00:09:43,120 Speaker 1: the USDA's Bureau of Chemistry was responsible for enforcing the 150 00:09:43,320 --> 00:09:48,520 Speaker 1: Pure Food and Drug Acts provisions regarding chemical adulteration. The 151 00:09:48,600 --> 00:09:52,319 Speaker 1: Bureau of Chemistry would later become the Food and Drug Administration. 152 00:09:53,160 --> 00:09:57,920 Speaker 1: The USDA's Bureau of Animal Industry was responsible for inspecting 153 00:09:57,960 --> 00:10:01,520 Speaker 1: the animals that were raised and slaught for food. These 154 00:10:01,600 --> 00:10:06,319 Speaker 1: inspections involved looking at, touching, and smelling animals and carcasses 155 00:10:06,360 --> 00:10:10,560 Speaker 1: so before and after slaughter, looking for signs of disease 156 00:10:10,720 --> 00:10:15,240 Speaker 1: or contamination. These inspections were conducted on animals whose meat 157 00:10:15,320 --> 00:10:19,280 Speaker 1: was being sold through interstate commerce. Chickens and turkeys were 158 00:10:19,320 --> 00:10:21,800 Speaker 1: not inspected because most of the time they were raised 159 00:10:21,800 --> 00:10:25,440 Speaker 1: on smaller farms and sold nearby, not in another state 160 00:10:25,559 --> 00:10:29,920 Speaker 1: or another country. The USDA started inspecting poultry farms in 161 00:10:30,000 --> 00:10:33,480 Speaker 1: nineteen twenty six following concerns about the safety of poultry, 162 00:10:33,920 --> 00:10:38,440 Speaker 1: but at first these inspections were voluntary. Although most of 163 00:10:38,440 --> 00:10:42,199 Speaker 1: this initial legislative focus on food safety was about meat, 164 00:10:42,600 --> 00:10:45,480 Speaker 1: there were also efforts to reduce the spread of disease 165 00:10:45,559 --> 00:10:49,280 Speaker 1: through shellfish. It had become clear that oysters and other 166 00:10:49,320 --> 00:10:52,440 Speaker 1: shellfish could make people sick if they were harvested from 167 00:10:52,520 --> 00:10:56,600 Speaker 1: water that was contaminated with bacteria. At the time, the 168 00:10:56,600 --> 00:11:00,000 Speaker 1: most common illness that was spread through shellfish was typhoid, 169 00:11:00,640 --> 00:11:04,080 Speaker 1: was caused by Salmonella typhi. In nineteen oh nine, the 170 00:11:04,120 --> 00:11:07,560 Speaker 1: American Public Health Association started working on a way to 171 00:11:07,720 --> 00:11:10,679 Speaker 1: test the water to try to make sure that shellfish 172 00:11:10,800 --> 00:11:14,520 Speaker 1: growing in it would be safe to eat. Eventually, people 173 00:11:14,520 --> 00:11:18,320 Speaker 1: started testing the water for E. Coli contamination, since E. 174 00:11:18,440 --> 00:11:23,120 Speaker 1: Coli and salmonella are both spread through feces. The US 175 00:11:23,160 --> 00:11:26,520 Speaker 1: continued to pass new laws on food safety in response 176 00:11:26,559 --> 00:11:30,959 Speaker 1: to public concerns, including authorizing the FDA to set standards 177 00:11:30,960 --> 00:11:34,480 Speaker 1: for quality and fill for canned foods with the exception 178 00:11:34,559 --> 00:11:39,000 Speaker 1: of canned milk and meat. In nineteen thirty the Federal Food, Drug, 179 00:11:39,000 --> 00:11:42,920 Speaker 1: and Cosmetic Act of nineteen thirty eight contained multiple new provisions, 180 00:11:43,240 --> 00:11:47,360 Speaker 1: including ones related to canned food and factory inspections. In 181 00:11:47,480 --> 00:11:50,240 Speaker 1: nineteen forty the FDA was moved from the Department of 182 00:11:50,280 --> 00:11:54,760 Speaker 1: Agriculture to the Federal Security Agency, and in nineteen forty nine, 183 00:11:55,000 --> 00:11:58,720 Speaker 1: the FDA published its first industry guidance, which involved toxic 184 00:11:58,800 --> 00:12:03,400 Speaker 1: chemicals in food. Congressional investigations into the safety of chemicals 185 00:12:03,480 --> 00:12:07,920 Speaker 1: used in foods and cosmetics started in nineteen fifty. By 186 00:12:07,960 --> 00:12:11,679 Speaker 1: this point, the United States had seen a massive increase 187 00:12:11,840 --> 00:12:16,480 Speaker 1: in factory farmed, and processed foods, which had really enormously 188 00:12:16,640 --> 00:12:21,000 Speaker 1: escalated during and after World War Two, and the space 189 00:12:21,120 --> 00:12:24,960 Speaker 1: race was underway. NASA already took steps to make sure 190 00:12:25,080 --> 00:12:29,520 Speaker 1: astronauts weren't exposed to any illnesses before they started a mission, 191 00:12:29,640 --> 00:12:34,280 Speaker 1: but as missions started to get longer, NASA also needed 192 00:12:34,280 --> 00:12:37,400 Speaker 1: to make sure they were not exposed to illnesses in 193 00:12:37,480 --> 00:12:40,800 Speaker 1: the middle of a mission that included food borne illnesses 194 00:12:40,880 --> 00:12:43,520 Speaker 1: and we will get to that after a sponsor break. 195 00:12:53,240 --> 00:12:56,680 Speaker 1: One of the many priorities of the US space program 196 00:12:56,800 --> 00:12:59,480 Speaker 1: was making sure that once astronauts were going to be 197 00:12:59,559 --> 00:13:02,920 Speaker 1: in space long enough to need to eat there, their 198 00:13:02,960 --> 00:13:06,760 Speaker 1: food would not make them sick like we talked about 199 00:13:06,760 --> 00:13:10,160 Speaker 1: with motion sickness in our episode on the Galleon at eleven. 200 00:13:10,679 --> 00:13:13,160 Speaker 1: Of food born illness in the middle of a space 201 00:13:13,200 --> 00:13:17,160 Speaker 1: mission had the potential to be catastrophic, putting the lives 202 00:13:17,200 --> 00:13:21,040 Speaker 1: of the sick astronaut and everyone else on board at risk. 203 00:13:22,240 --> 00:13:25,880 Speaker 1: So in addition to having a long shelf life and 204 00:13:26,000 --> 00:13:30,000 Speaker 1: not producing crumbs that could get into instrument panels or ventilation, 205 00:13:30,559 --> 00:13:33,960 Speaker 1: the food going into space needed to be free of 206 00:13:34,040 --> 00:13:39,400 Speaker 1: all potential pathogens. Controlling crumbliness was the easy part. The 207 00:13:39,440 --> 00:13:43,199 Speaker 1: first foods eaten in space included squeezable packages of purees 208 00:13:43,200 --> 00:13:46,760 Speaker 1: and liquids and bite sized cubes of solid food with 209 00:13:46,840 --> 00:13:50,680 Speaker 1: an edible coating to keep them contained. But making sure 210 00:13:50,720 --> 00:13:54,800 Speaker 1: everything was pathogen free was more difficult. It seemed like 211 00:13:54,880 --> 00:13:57,760 Speaker 1: the stress of space travel had the potential to make 212 00:13:57,800 --> 00:14:02,319 Speaker 1: astronauts susceptible to microbes that would be harmless in other circumstances, 213 00:14:02,720 --> 00:14:06,080 Speaker 1: So the thresholds for what was considered safe were very low. 214 00:14:06,760 --> 00:14:10,600 Speaker 1: Another issue was determining that the food really was safe 215 00:14:10,720 --> 00:14:14,920 Speaker 1: before sending it up there. At first, the raw ingredients 216 00:14:15,040 --> 00:14:18,720 Speaker 1: and the finished products were both tested, and batches of 217 00:14:18,760 --> 00:14:23,160 Speaker 1: food that failed the final test were destroyed. Obviously, this 218 00:14:23,320 --> 00:14:27,040 Speaker 1: was wasteful, and so much finished food wound up being 219 00:14:27,120 --> 00:14:30,400 Speaker 1: destroyed during and after testing that there was not much 220 00:14:30,520 --> 00:14:35,920 Speaker 1: left to actually send to space. Also, if only safe 221 00:14:36,040 --> 00:14:40,360 Speaker 1: ingredients were going into processing but contaminated food was coming out, 222 00:14:41,000 --> 00:14:44,680 Speaker 1: that suggested there was a problem. Doctor Howard Bauman, who 223 00:14:44,760 --> 00:14:47,960 Speaker 1: worked at Pillsbury and as a consultant, set of this quote, 224 00:14:48,160 --> 00:14:50,520 Speaker 1: if we had to do a great deal of destructive 225 00:14:50,560 --> 00:14:53,360 Speaker 1: testing to come to a reasonable conclusion that the product 226 00:14:53,400 --> 00:14:56,240 Speaker 1: was safe to eat, how much were we missing in 227 00:14:56,280 --> 00:14:59,720 Speaker 1: the way of safety issues by principally testing only the 228 00:14:59,800 --> 00:15:03,240 Speaker 1: end product in raw materials. He went on to say, quote, 229 00:15:03,400 --> 00:15:06,960 Speaker 1: we concluded, after extensive evaluation that the only way we 230 00:15:07,000 --> 00:15:11,240 Speaker 1: could succeed would be to establish control over the entire process, 231 00:15:11,560 --> 00:15:16,160 Speaker 1: the raw materials, the processing environment, and the people involved. 232 00:15:17,440 --> 00:15:23,920 Speaker 1: Establishing control over the entire process was an enormous team effort. Initially, 233 00:15:24,120 --> 00:15:27,480 Speaker 1: before Balvin got involved, there were two principal players. They 234 00:15:27,480 --> 00:15:31,360 Speaker 1: were NASA and the US Army Natick Research Development and 235 00:15:31,440 --> 00:15:38,200 Speaker 1: Engineering Center previously known as the Quartermaster Food and Container Institute. 236 00:15:38,240 --> 00:15:41,880 Speaker 1: One of the key people involved from NASA was doctor PAULA. Chance, 237 00:15:41,920 --> 00:15:45,560 Speaker 1: who was NASA's Food and Nutrition Coordinator. On the Native 238 00:15:45,680 --> 00:15:50,960 Speaker 1: lab side were food technologists doctor Herbert A. Hollander, microbiologist 239 00:15:51,000 --> 00:15:56,120 Speaker 1: doctor Hahmed Elbissi, and dietitian Mary V. Klika. NASA and 240 00:15:56,160 --> 00:16:00,000 Speaker 1: the Army also worked with several corporations to actually produce 241 00:16:00,240 --> 00:16:03,520 Speaker 1: the food, and the primary one that became involved in 242 00:16:03,560 --> 00:16:07,520 Speaker 1: this food safety effort was Pillsbury. Pillsbury became part of 243 00:16:07,520 --> 00:16:10,840 Speaker 1: the team in nineteen fifty nine. At the time, the 244 00:16:10,840 --> 00:16:14,400 Speaker 1: military was using a framework called failure mode and Effects 245 00:16:14,400 --> 00:16:19,960 Speaker 1: analysis as a process analysis tool. This essentially involved examining 246 00:16:20,000 --> 00:16:23,000 Speaker 1: all of the ways a process could fail and analyzing 247 00:16:23,040 --> 00:16:26,360 Speaker 1: what would happen in the event of that failure. This 248 00:16:26,480 --> 00:16:29,440 Speaker 1: framework was being used to make sure production of everything 249 00:16:29,520 --> 00:16:34,560 Speaker 1: from ammunition to medical supplies turned out working, reliable finished products, 250 00:16:34,560 --> 00:16:37,840 Speaker 1: and to make sure systems and processes went as planned. 251 00:16:38,640 --> 00:16:41,640 Speaker 1: The team decided to build on this concept to develop 252 00:16:41,640 --> 00:16:44,800 Speaker 1: a system to ensure save food for the astronauts, and 253 00:16:44,840 --> 00:16:47,240 Speaker 1: they looked at the food production process as one in 254 00:16:47,280 --> 00:16:50,960 Speaker 1: which a single failure meant that the whole system had failed. 255 00:16:51,680 --> 00:16:56,400 Speaker 1: They ultimately developed a process based on three principles. The 256 00:16:56,520 --> 00:16:59,600 Speaker 1: first was to conduct an analysis of all the possible 257 00:16:59,680 --> 00:17:04,320 Speaker 1: has involved in food production. That included evaluating all the ingredients, 258 00:17:04,720 --> 00:17:08,720 Speaker 1: how those ingredients were combined and processed the final product, 259 00:17:09,119 --> 00:17:13,920 Speaker 1: how that product was packaged, distributed, stored, and used. The 260 00:17:13,960 --> 00:17:18,120 Speaker 1: second was to determine the critical control points or CCPs 261 00:17:18,280 --> 00:17:22,159 Speaker 1: in the food production process. In other words, every point 262 00:17:22,320 --> 00:17:25,760 Speaker 1: in that process where something could go wrong to allow 263 00:17:25,960 --> 00:17:29,760 Speaker 1: pathogens to contaminate the food. And then the third was 264 00:17:29,840 --> 00:17:33,160 Speaker 1: to establish a system to monitor all of those critical 265 00:17:33,200 --> 00:17:37,640 Speaker 1: control points. So, as a hypothetical example, let's say flour 266 00:17:38,240 --> 00:17:41,040 Speaker 1: used to make these byte sized foods was tested on 267 00:17:41,160 --> 00:17:43,760 Speaker 1: arriving at the factory and was found to be free 268 00:17:43,800 --> 00:17:48,159 Speaker 1: of bacterial contamination from there were there any ways that 269 00:17:48,240 --> 00:17:52,080 Speaker 1: bacteria could be introduced during storage, like through rodents getting 270 00:17:52,080 --> 00:17:55,439 Speaker 1: into the storage area, or a water leak, or exposure 271 00:17:55,480 --> 00:17:59,040 Speaker 1: to other materials in the same storage space. How about 272 00:17:59,040 --> 00:18:02,080 Speaker 1: on the production line, say if the same equipment was 273 00:18:02,119 --> 00:18:04,920 Speaker 1: also being used to process ingredients that were not being 274 00:18:05,000 --> 00:18:08,639 Speaker 1: held to these same strict standards. What steps needed to 275 00:18:08,640 --> 00:18:10,760 Speaker 1: be taken to make sure that the people working on 276 00:18:10,800 --> 00:18:14,240 Speaker 1: the production line were all healthy, and that the materials 277 00:18:14,359 --> 00:18:17,040 Speaker 1: used in the packaging were sterile, and that once the 278 00:18:17,080 --> 00:18:20,359 Speaker 1: finished product was in there, the packaging was enough to 279 00:18:20,440 --> 00:18:24,640 Speaker 1: protect it from any possible contaminants. This becomes a branching 280 00:18:24,720 --> 00:18:27,359 Speaker 1: tree of just one problem after another, on and on 281 00:18:27,440 --> 00:18:30,640 Speaker 1: and on. Yeah, that's not a comprehensive list of anything 282 00:18:30,680 --> 00:18:33,400 Speaker 1: at all. That's something I made up as an example 283 00:18:33,440 --> 00:18:35,760 Speaker 1: of a tiny, tiny slice of it. This was a 284 00:18:35,880 --> 00:18:39,320 Speaker 1: huge undertaking, at least as far as the team knew, 285 00:18:39,760 --> 00:18:43,240 Speaker 1: nobody had ever done this kind of thorough analysis of 286 00:18:43,280 --> 00:18:47,719 Speaker 1: a food production process before. They had to evaluate every 287 00:18:47,840 --> 00:18:51,080 Speaker 1: step of this entire production system and figure out all 288 00:18:51,119 --> 00:18:53,640 Speaker 1: of the things that could go wrong at each step. 289 00:18:54,040 --> 00:18:55,960 Speaker 1: And some of these things that could go wrong were 290 00:18:56,000 --> 00:18:59,280 Speaker 1: really tiny, Like at one point somebody realized that a 291 00:18:59,440 --> 00:19:02,879 Speaker 1: telephone and the processing plant could become a source of 292 00:19:03,119 --> 00:19:07,359 Speaker 1: cross contamination if it was not kept clean. Just thinking 293 00:19:07,400 --> 00:19:10,679 Speaker 1: about all of the ways that we in our daily 294 00:19:10,720 --> 00:19:15,680 Speaker 1: lives are introducing stuff all over everything we touch. This 295 00:19:15,760 --> 00:19:18,400 Speaker 1: is why, when I come back to my home from anywhere, 296 00:19:18,440 --> 00:19:22,280 Speaker 1: the first thing I do is wash my hands. This 297 00:19:22,400 --> 00:19:27,440 Speaker 1: process also required meticulous record keeping where the raw ingredients 298 00:19:27,480 --> 00:19:30,359 Speaker 1: had come from, every step those ingredients took as they 299 00:19:30,400 --> 00:19:33,439 Speaker 1: were made into food and packaged, the temperature of the 300 00:19:33,480 --> 00:19:36,960 Speaker 1: production line, and the food at various stages where that 301 00:19:37,000 --> 00:19:41,440 Speaker 1: finished food was stored on and on. Ingredients were still 302 00:19:41,480 --> 00:19:43,919 Speaker 1: tested before they were used to make sure they weren't 303 00:19:43,920 --> 00:19:47,560 Speaker 1: harboring any pathogens, and the finished products were tested at 304 00:19:47,560 --> 00:19:51,360 Speaker 1: the end of the process. All of this sounds laborious, 305 00:19:51,400 --> 00:19:54,240 Speaker 1: and it was, but the end result was that the 306 00:19:54,320 --> 00:19:57,280 Speaker 1: process was way less wasteful. They were not having to 307 00:19:57,560 --> 00:20:01,280 Speaker 1: destroy huge amounts of finished product anymore, and then everybody 308 00:20:01,359 --> 00:20:05,399 Speaker 1: was also confident about sending those finished products into space. 309 00:20:06,000 --> 00:20:08,720 Speaker 1: Baumann was so impressed by the end result of all 310 00:20:08,760 --> 00:20:11,919 Speaker 1: of this that he pushed for Pillsbury to implement something 311 00:20:12,240 --> 00:20:17,440 Speaker 1: similar for its consumer products, not just for the space program. Meanwhile, 312 00:20:17,720 --> 00:20:20,960 Speaker 1: out in the rest of the world, more international standards 313 00:20:20,960 --> 00:20:24,040 Speaker 1: and guidelines were being developed to try to protect consumers 314 00:20:24,040 --> 00:20:28,560 Speaker 1: from pathogens and contaminants in food. The Food and Agriculture 315 00:20:28,680 --> 00:20:32,000 Speaker 1: Organization of the United Nations and the World Health Organization 316 00:20:32,359 --> 00:20:35,920 Speaker 1: had convened a conference on food additives in nineteen fifty five. 317 00:20:36,680 --> 00:20:40,320 Speaker 1: In nineteen sixty the FAO and the WHO established the 318 00:20:40,400 --> 00:20:45,840 Speaker 1: Codex Alimentarius Commission, named after the Codex Alimentarius Austriacis that 319 00:20:45,880 --> 00:20:49,720 Speaker 1: we mentioned earlier, and that was to draft voluntary guidelines 320 00:20:49,720 --> 00:20:53,200 Speaker 1: for things like food safety, food labeling, and other food 321 00:20:53,240 --> 00:20:57,400 Speaker 1: related issues. The first version of this document, known as 322 00:20:57,480 --> 00:21:02,560 Speaker 1: Codex Alimentarius, was completed in eighteen sixty three. But even 323 00:21:02,680 --> 00:21:08,080 Speaker 1: as the international community and individual nations were drafting more guidelines, 324 00:21:08,119 --> 00:21:12,200 Speaker 1: the food industry was also growing in both size and complexity. 325 00:21:12,359 --> 00:21:16,600 Speaker 1: All around the world, Companies were producing more foods and 326 00:21:16,640 --> 00:21:20,159 Speaker 1: developing different types of foods, as well as more complex 327 00:21:20,280 --> 00:21:24,240 Speaker 1: products like TV dinners, and a lot of places, production 328 00:21:24,520 --> 00:21:27,560 Speaker 1: had gotten so fast and so complex that it was 329 00:21:27,640 --> 00:21:32,000 Speaker 1: no longer possible for inspectors to physically inspect everything, So 330 00:21:32,520 --> 00:21:36,720 Speaker 1: in some places inspectors started focusing on making sure manufacturers 331 00:21:36,760 --> 00:21:42,200 Speaker 1: were following established food safety protocols or legal requirements. Plus, 332 00:21:42,240 --> 00:21:46,400 Speaker 1: with all this increasing complexity, sometimes the requirements were lagging 333 00:21:46,480 --> 00:21:50,560 Speaker 1: behind what people were actually doing. There were more and 334 00:21:50,640 --> 00:21:55,200 Speaker 1: more opportunities for pathogens to be introduced into the food system. 335 00:21:55,359 --> 00:21:59,359 Speaker 1: Although Pillsbury had been successfully making food for the space program. 336 00:21:59,720 --> 00:22:02,320 Speaker 1: In Arch of nineteen seventy one, it had to recall 337 00:22:02,400 --> 00:22:07,120 Speaker 1: one of its own products, a creamy wheat cereal called farina. 338 00:22:07,160 --> 00:22:11,600 Speaker 1: A glass shield had broken at the processing plant in Springfield, Illinois, 339 00:22:11,840 --> 00:22:16,399 Speaker 1: contaminating some of the product, but thanks to Pillsbury's record keeping, 340 00:22:16,560 --> 00:22:20,600 Speaker 1: the company knew what to recall, specifically twenty seven and 341 00:22:20,640 --> 00:22:23,600 Speaker 1: a half ounce packages of the product marked with one 342 00:22:23,680 --> 00:22:28,040 Speaker 1: particular code, which had been shipped to western Massachusetts and Connecticut. 343 00:22:29,160 --> 00:22:31,880 Speaker 1: Sounds like a really normal way for a food recall 344 00:22:32,000 --> 00:22:35,800 Speaker 1: to happen now, but at the time like this was 345 00:22:35,840 --> 00:22:37,880 Speaker 1: a level of record keeping that a lot of places 346 00:22:37,920 --> 00:22:42,880 Speaker 1: just did not have. This recall was announced just days 347 00:22:42,960 --> 00:22:48,200 Speaker 1: before Pillsbury publicly presented the system now known as Hazard 348 00:22:48,240 --> 00:22:51,600 Speaker 1: Analysis and Critical Control Points or a HASSP, for the 349 00:22:51,640 --> 00:22:55,119 Speaker 1: first time. This was at the nineteen seventy one US 350 00:22:55,320 --> 00:22:59,480 Speaker 1: National Conference on Food Protection. The idea was for food 351 00:22:59,520 --> 00:23:03,400 Speaker 1: producer to use these steps to prevent their products from 352 00:23:03,440 --> 00:23:07,439 Speaker 1: becoming contaminated with pathogens or foreign materials in the first place, 353 00:23:08,000 --> 00:23:11,960 Speaker 1: rather than detecting and dealing with problems after foods were 354 00:23:11,960 --> 00:23:16,040 Speaker 1: already on the market that didn't start to happen right away, though, 355 00:23:16,119 --> 00:23:17,920 Speaker 1: and we're going to talk about this more after a 356 00:23:17,960 --> 00:23:31,080 Speaker 1: sponsor break. Killsbury's recall of farina in March of nineteen 357 00:23:31,119 --> 00:23:33,280 Speaker 1: seventy one was the kind of thing that might have 358 00:23:33,400 --> 00:23:36,119 Speaker 1: led to a big public outcry. On top of the 359 00:23:36,119 --> 00:23:40,080 Speaker 1: product potentially being contaminated with glass, which is a scary idea, 360 00:23:40,640 --> 00:23:43,040 Speaker 1: farina was something that a lot of people were feeding 361 00:23:43,040 --> 00:23:47,000 Speaker 1: to babies and small children. In spite of this, though, 362 00:23:47,040 --> 00:23:50,439 Speaker 1: there just wasn't a ton of industry interest in the 363 00:23:50,520 --> 00:23:54,720 Speaker 1: Hassip system until a few months later in nineteen seventy one. 364 00:23:55,600 --> 00:23:59,880 Speaker 1: That was when Samuel and Grace Cochrane both contracted bachelor 365 00:24:00,119 --> 00:24:03,919 Speaker 1: them from a can of Vicious Wise, nothing had seemed 366 00:24:04,040 --> 00:24:07,159 Speaker 1: strange to them about the soup when they opened the can, 367 00:24:07,240 --> 00:24:09,359 Speaker 1: but when they ate it, it had tasted a little 368 00:24:09,359 --> 00:24:12,080 Speaker 1: bit off. Both of them had only eaten a few 369 00:24:12,119 --> 00:24:14,240 Speaker 1: bites of it before throwing the rest of it away. 370 00:24:15,240 --> 00:24:19,840 Speaker 1: Samuel died and Grace had to be hospitalized for several months. 371 00:24:20,480 --> 00:24:23,640 Speaker 1: This led to a massive recall in which the US 372 00:24:23,760 --> 00:24:28,159 Speaker 1: government seized one point five million cans of food that 373 00:24:28,200 --> 00:24:32,120 Speaker 1: the company had produced. All of this was happening at 374 00:24:32,119 --> 00:24:34,880 Speaker 1: the same time, as the public had serious doubts about 375 00:24:34,880 --> 00:24:39,000 Speaker 1: the FDA's ability to protect the food supply, especially when 376 00:24:39,040 --> 00:24:40,919 Speaker 1: it turned out that the plant where that soup had 377 00:24:40,960 --> 00:24:44,200 Speaker 1: been made hadn't been inspected by the FDA in more 378 00:24:44,240 --> 00:24:48,440 Speaker 1: than four years. The company had also apparently known about 379 00:24:48,440 --> 00:24:51,600 Speaker 1: the problems on its production line, but hadn't taken steps 380 00:24:51,600 --> 00:24:56,359 Speaker 1: to address them. Fearing backlash against canned food across the board, 381 00:24:56,560 --> 00:25:01,359 Speaker 1: the National Canners Association proposed making changes across the industry, 382 00:25:01,800 --> 00:25:06,119 Speaker 1: many of them based on HASSEP principles. In the wake 383 00:25:06,200 --> 00:25:10,359 Speaker 1: of this and other recalls, as well as various expose's 384 00:25:10,640 --> 00:25:17,320 Speaker 1: involving uninspected, unsanitary food processing facilities, the FDA asked Pillsbury 385 00:25:17,400 --> 00:25:21,600 Speaker 1: to establish a HASSEP training program for FDA food inspectors. 386 00:25:22,320 --> 00:25:25,840 Speaker 1: A workshop called Food Safety through the Hazard Analysis and 387 00:25:25,880 --> 00:25:29,080 Speaker 1: Critical Control Points System was held for the first time 388 00:25:29,160 --> 00:25:33,520 Speaker 1: in September of nineteen seventy two. In nineteen seventy three, 389 00:25:33,760 --> 00:25:38,240 Speaker 1: in response to ongoing issues with botulism, including a massive 390 00:25:38,280 --> 00:25:42,720 Speaker 1: recall of millions of cans of potentially tainted mushrooms, the 391 00:25:42,840 --> 00:25:47,520 Speaker 1: FDA incorporated HASSEP principles into regulations for the production of 392 00:25:47,680 --> 00:25:52,280 Speaker 1: low acid canned foods. This was a major change, and 393 00:25:52,320 --> 00:25:56,720 Speaker 1: not every manufacturer wanted to do it. Some smaller businesses 394 00:25:56,760 --> 00:26:00,679 Speaker 1: really couldn't afford the upfront costs of implementing a HANSEIP system, 395 00:26:00,920 --> 00:26:04,080 Speaker 1: even though the cost per can of the finished food 396 00:26:04,280 --> 00:26:08,920 Speaker 1: was really pretty small. By nineteen seventy four, Pillsbury had 397 00:26:08,920 --> 00:26:12,960 Speaker 1: implemented a HASSEB system at all of its factories and 398 00:26:13,080 --> 00:26:15,600 Speaker 1: at Burger King restaurants, which it owned at the time. 399 00:26:16,240 --> 00:26:19,400 Speaker 1: By the nineteen eighties, other federal agencies in the US 400 00:26:19,520 --> 00:26:21,960 Speaker 1: that were connected to food safety in some way were 401 00:26:22,000 --> 00:26:25,720 Speaker 1: also adopting a HASSEP framework, and other countries were starting 402 00:26:25,800 --> 00:26:29,480 Speaker 1: to use it as well. The World Health Organization published 403 00:26:29,480 --> 00:26:32,439 Speaker 1: a report on HASSEP and recommended its use in nineteen 404 00:26:32,480 --> 00:26:36,000 Speaker 1: eighty three. In nineteen eighty five, the National Academy of 405 00:26:36,040 --> 00:26:39,280 Speaker 1: Sciences evaluated the pros and cons of HASSP and of 406 00:26:39,359 --> 00:26:43,480 Speaker 1: random sampling and bacterial testing as ways to ensure food safety, 407 00:26:44,000 --> 00:26:47,560 Speaker 1: and after that analysis also recommended HASSEP as a way 408 00:26:47,600 --> 00:26:51,920 Speaker 1: to help insure safe food. Around this time, the National 409 00:26:51,960 --> 00:26:57,040 Speaker 1: Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods issued a series 410 00:26:57,080 --> 00:27:00,800 Speaker 1: of reports on HASSEP. Over this process, the number of 411 00:27:00,920 --> 00:27:05,040 Speaker 1: principles expanded from three to seven. Two of the new 412 00:27:05,080 --> 00:27:08,520 Speaker 1: principles had been kind of implied in the earlier version 413 00:27:08,560 --> 00:27:11,160 Speaker 1: but not specifically spelled out, and then the other two 414 00:27:11,200 --> 00:27:16,000 Speaker 1: were new. The National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for 415 00:27:16,080 --> 00:27:19,880 Speaker 1: Foods endorsed the expanded version of HASSEP in nineteen ninety two, 416 00:27:20,640 --> 00:27:23,639 Speaker 1: and this set of seven principles is still used today. 417 00:27:23,640 --> 00:27:27,520 Speaker 1: They are one conduct a hazard analysis. Two identify the 418 00:27:27,560 --> 00:27:32,920 Speaker 1: critical control points or CCPs. Three established critical control limits 419 00:27:32,920 --> 00:27:36,360 Speaker 1: for each CCP. It's like how far out of alignment 420 00:27:36,359 --> 00:27:38,639 Speaker 1: can something be before you consider it to be failed. 421 00:27:39,359 --> 00:27:45,280 Speaker 1: Four established monitoring procedures for each CCP. Five established corrective actions, 422 00:27:45,359 --> 00:27:48,440 Speaker 1: or the steps to take if something goes wrong, six 423 00:27:48,720 --> 00:27:54,800 Speaker 1: established record keeping procedures, and seven establish verification procedures. Although 424 00:27:54,920 --> 00:27:57,520 Speaker 1: various parts of the food industry around the world were 425 00:27:57,560 --> 00:28:01,560 Speaker 1: moving toward implementing this kind of framework, the process was slow, 426 00:28:02,000 --> 00:28:04,760 Speaker 1: and in a lot of places the changes were voluntary, 427 00:28:05,480 --> 00:28:08,600 Speaker 1: and the cost and work involved were not the only obstacles. 428 00:28:09,040 --> 00:28:12,240 Speaker 1: In some places, inspectors were used to using their senses 429 00:28:12,840 --> 00:28:16,639 Speaker 1: looking at, touching, or smelling things on a continuous basis. 430 00:28:17,359 --> 00:28:19,720 Speaker 1: The idea of moving to a system that involved making 431 00:28:19,760 --> 00:28:23,040 Speaker 1: sure a processing plant was following a particular process and 432 00:28:23,160 --> 00:28:27,960 Speaker 1: keeping up with that paperwork seemed counterintuitive. Some inspectors joke 433 00:28:28,000 --> 00:28:31,000 Speaker 1: that hassup stood for have a cup of coffee and prey. 434 00:28:32,119 --> 00:28:35,760 Speaker 1: But then in nineteen ninety three, another incident prompted big 435 00:28:35,960 --> 00:28:39,880 Speaker 1: changes in food safety in the United States. This was 436 00:28:39,920 --> 00:28:42,760 Speaker 1: an outbreak of E Coli O one five seven h 437 00:28:42,880 --> 00:28:46,640 Speaker 1: seven connected to Jack in the box restaurants. E Coli 438 00:28:46,760 --> 00:28:49,840 Speaker 1: O one five seven eight seven had been identified in 439 00:28:49,960 --> 00:28:53,080 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy two, and by nineteen eighty two it was 440 00:28:53,160 --> 00:28:57,280 Speaker 1: known as a potential food borne pathogen, but this outbreak 441 00:28:57,320 --> 00:28:59,600 Speaker 1: in nineteen ninety three is really what brought it to 442 00:28:59,640 --> 00:29:04,720 Speaker 1: public attention. There were more than seven hundred confirmed cases 443 00:29:04,760 --> 00:29:08,960 Speaker 1: in four states, and four children died. The source of 444 00:29:09,000 --> 00:29:12,560 Speaker 1: the outbreak was hamburger patties that had been contaminated with 445 00:29:12,640 --> 00:29:16,200 Speaker 1: the bacteria and then had not been cooked thoroughly enough 446 00:29:16,280 --> 00:29:21,120 Speaker 1: before being served to customers. Other major outbreaks elsewhere had 447 00:29:21,160 --> 00:29:25,040 Speaker 1: also sparked similar attention in other places around the world, 448 00:29:25,560 --> 00:29:30,080 Speaker 1: including the outbreak of bovine spongeiform encephalopathy that struck the 449 00:29:30,200 --> 00:29:34,520 Speaker 1: UK in the nineteen eighties and nineties. After this outbreak, 450 00:29:34,680 --> 00:29:37,320 Speaker 1: Jack in the Box became the first fast food company 451 00:29:37,360 --> 00:29:41,960 Speaker 1: to implement HASSP. An International HASSEP Alliance was established to 452 00:29:41,960 --> 00:29:46,560 Speaker 1: provide uniform training programs and standards, as well as education, training, 453 00:29:46,600 --> 00:29:50,000 Speaker 1: and research around the world in nineteen ninety four. In 454 00:29:50,080 --> 00:29:54,240 Speaker 1: nineteen ninety six, the USDA issued its Pathogen Reduction pr 455 00:29:54,560 --> 00:29:58,080 Speaker 1: HASSEP Final Rule, requiring all meat and poultry slaughter and 456 00:29:58,120 --> 00:30:03,240 Speaker 1: processing establishments to design and implement a HASSP system. However, 457 00:30:03,320 --> 00:30:07,160 Speaker 1: there were also criticisms of the USDA's nineteen ninety six rule. 458 00:30:07,920 --> 00:30:10,600 Speaker 1: Although this was a major change to the way food 459 00:30:10,640 --> 00:30:14,400 Speaker 1: safety was being approached and meat and poultry slaughtering plants, 460 00:30:14,520 --> 00:30:17,920 Speaker 1: it didn't totally align with all of the HASSET principles. 461 00:30:18,680 --> 00:30:21,880 Speaker 1: For example, in a HASSP system, if something goes wrong, 462 00:30:22,240 --> 00:30:26,000 Speaker 1: corrective action should be taken immediately to fix it, But 463 00:30:26,080 --> 00:30:29,440 Speaker 1: in the USDA rule, a company that failed to meet 464 00:30:29,520 --> 00:30:34,520 Speaker 1: standards for salmonella contamination would be retested a few months later, 465 00:30:34,960 --> 00:30:37,280 Speaker 1: and then if the company failed that test as well, 466 00:30:37,680 --> 00:30:42,160 Speaker 1: they got another opportunity to test. The USDA was empowered 467 00:30:42,200 --> 00:30:45,840 Speaker 1: to close down a facility that failed three salmonella tests 468 00:30:45,880 --> 00:30:48,080 Speaker 1: in a row, but that didn't happen very often and 469 00:30:48,520 --> 00:30:53,120 Speaker 1: a lot of time passed between those three tests. Years later, 470 00:30:53,200 --> 00:30:55,760 Speaker 1: the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals also ruled that the 471 00:30:55,840 --> 00:30:58,880 Speaker 1: USDA didn't actually have the authority to shut down a 472 00:30:58,920 --> 00:31:02,360 Speaker 1: plant for failing to pay these tests, and that weakened 473 00:31:02,400 --> 00:31:07,000 Speaker 1: the USDA's enforcement powers. Even so, it's estimated that in 474 00:31:07,040 --> 00:31:10,000 Speaker 1: the twenty years after the us adopted HASSEP rules for 475 00:31:10,080 --> 00:31:13,320 Speaker 1: various parts of the food industry, food born illness has 476 00:31:13,400 --> 00:31:17,160 Speaker 1: declined about twenty percent, and HASSUP has become a global 477 00:31:17,200 --> 00:31:20,920 Speaker 1: standard for food safety. Since the global food system has 478 00:31:21,080 --> 00:31:24,080 Speaker 1: hundreds of different nations involved, all with their own rules 479 00:31:24,120 --> 00:31:28,320 Speaker 1: and regulatory bodies, the Global Food Safety Initiative was established 480 00:31:28,360 --> 00:31:31,760 Speaker 1: in the year two thousand to coordinate among them. The 481 00:31:31,840 --> 00:31:37,200 Speaker 1: Global Food Safety Initiative is benchmark standards which require HASSEP implementation. 482 00:31:38,080 --> 00:31:42,400 Speaker 1: There are all kinds of different international standards that incorporate 483 00:31:42,480 --> 00:31:45,960 Speaker 1: HASSEP in some way, and HASSEP based systems are the 484 00:31:46,000 --> 00:31:49,640 Speaker 1: most common framework for preventing food born illness around the world. 485 00:31:50,440 --> 00:31:53,080 Speaker 1: At this point, all of the member countries of the 486 00:31:53,120 --> 00:31:59,120 Speaker 1: World Trade Organization recognized the Codex Elementarius commissions recommended guidelines 487 00:31:59,120 --> 00:32:01,480 Speaker 1: for food safety in das. Those guidelines are based in 488 00:32:01,560 --> 00:32:05,760 Speaker 1: part on HASSEP. At this point, in general, hasset based 489 00:32:05,760 --> 00:32:09,800 Speaker 1: guidelines are the most widespread among the world's wealthiest countries. 490 00:32:10,520 --> 00:32:13,640 Speaker 1: The laws connected to this have continued to evolve around 491 00:32:13,640 --> 00:32:16,920 Speaker 1: the world. In the US, for example, the Food Safety 492 00:32:16,960 --> 00:32:20,960 Speaker 1: Modernization Act was passed in twenty eleven. Its focus is 493 00:32:21,000 --> 00:32:24,200 Speaker 1: on preventing food borne illnesses rather than on responding to 494 00:32:24,240 --> 00:32:27,960 Speaker 1: outbreaks after they happen, and its rules related to everything 495 00:32:28,000 --> 00:32:32,120 Speaker 1: from agricultural water to food traceability, to transportation of food 496 00:32:32,160 --> 00:32:35,760 Speaker 1: to standards for growing produce. Most of what we talked 497 00:32:35,800 --> 00:32:38,960 Speaker 1: about today has involved meat, poultry, and processed foods like 498 00:32:39,040 --> 00:32:42,840 Speaker 1: canned goods, but today contaminated fruits and vegetables are a 499 00:32:42,880 --> 00:32:46,960 Speaker 1: major source of food borne illness outbreaks. Before we wrap up, 500 00:32:47,000 --> 00:32:49,760 Speaker 1: we should note that none of this is perfect. That 501 00:32:49,920 --> 00:32:54,520 Speaker 1: Codex Elementarius is a set of international guidelines, but they're recommendations. 502 00:32:54,560 --> 00:32:58,400 Speaker 1: They're not legal requirements. Here in the US, the whole 503 00:32:58,520 --> 00:33:01,920 Speaker 1: food safety system is a patchwork made up from more 504 00:33:02,000 --> 00:33:05,440 Speaker 1: than a century of various federal regulations as well as 505 00:33:05,480 --> 00:33:09,800 Speaker 1: state and local regulations. There are at least seven different 506 00:33:09,840 --> 00:33:13,560 Speaker 1: federal agencies responsible for the safety and quality of some 507 00:33:13,720 --> 00:33:17,080 Speaker 1: part of the food system. I've seen people list numbers 508 00:33:17,120 --> 00:33:19,000 Speaker 1: as high as twelve. Like there are a bunch of 509 00:33:19,200 --> 00:33:21,959 Speaker 1: federal agencies involved in all of this, and some of 510 00:33:22,000 --> 00:33:26,120 Speaker 1: this is very weird and confusing, like the Food and 511 00:33:26,200 --> 00:33:29,560 Speaker 1: Drug Administration is responsible for food like the name says, 512 00:33:29,800 --> 00:33:33,160 Speaker 1: but not for meat unless it's exotic meat. They're also 513 00:33:33,240 --> 00:33:36,920 Speaker 1: responsible for eggs, but only in the shell. Meat, poultry, 514 00:33:36,960 --> 00:33:39,600 Speaker 1: and the processing and grading of eggs all fall to 515 00:33:39,640 --> 00:33:43,240 Speaker 1: the US Department of Agriculture, not the FDA, and then 516 00:33:43,360 --> 00:33:46,600 Speaker 1: fish and seafood grading falls under neither of those That 517 00:33:46,800 --> 00:33:51,360 Speaker 1: is under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Although the 518 00:33:51,400 --> 00:33:55,120 Speaker 1: Food Safety and Inspection Service is responsible for inspecting meat 519 00:33:55,200 --> 00:33:59,240 Speaker 1: and poultry, twenty seven states run their own inspection programs, 520 00:33:59,560 --> 00:34:02,920 Speaker 1: which are required to be equivalent to or better than 521 00:34:03,280 --> 00:34:07,720 Speaker 1: the federal standard. And then there are various gaps and 522 00:34:07,800 --> 00:34:11,120 Speaker 1: gray areas in this whole process, like the vegan crumble 523 00:34:11,200 --> 00:34:13,719 Speaker 1: recall we mentioned at the top of the show was 524 00:34:13,719 --> 00:34:16,839 Speaker 1: for a product from a meal delivery company, and meal 525 00:34:16,920 --> 00:34:20,280 Speaker 1: delivery companies are kind of in this gray area between 526 00:34:20,360 --> 00:34:24,239 Speaker 1: restaurants which are locally regulated, and food producers which are 527 00:34:24,280 --> 00:34:28,759 Speaker 1: federally regulated by the FDA. There's way more about this, 528 00:34:28,920 --> 00:34:32,240 Speaker 1: and that recall specifically in the episode of maintenance phase 529 00:34:32,320 --> 00:34:34,879 Speaker 1: that we mentioned at the top of the show. There 530 00:34:34,960 --> 00:34:38,920 Speaker 1: have also been times when existing regulations have been rolled back, 531 00:34:39,360 --> 00:34:42,080 Speaker 1: including in twenty twenty during the earlier months of the 532 00:34:42,080 --> 00:34:45,840 Speaker 1: COVID nineteen pandemic, when limits were waived on how quickly 533 00:34:45,880 --> 00:34:50,120 Speaker 1: processing lines could operate, something that critics said was dangerous 534 00:34:50,120 --> 00:34:55,000 Speaker 1: for both worker safety and the safety of the food supply. Yeah, basically, 535 00:34:55,320 --> 00:34:58,880 Speaker 1: so many workers that so many food production plants got 536 00:34:58,960 --> 00:35:02,120 Speaker 1: COVID and worse sick or died that there were like 537 00:35:03,000 --> 00:35:06,480 Speaker 1: requirements that were meant to allow inspectors to work quickly 538 00:35:06,600 --> 00:35:11,719 Speaker 1: enough were raised to let the factories catch up. So 539 00:35:11,840 --> 00:35:14,680 Speaker 1: even with all of this, there are still a lot 540 00:35:14,680 --> 00:35:16,800 Speaker 1: of food born illness outbreaks and a lot of people 541 00:35:16,880 --> 00:35:19,560 Speaker 1: who contract a food born illness from something they ate 542 00:35:19,600 --> 00:35:22,719 Speaker 1: at home that may or may not ever be connected 543 00:35:22,800 --> 00:35:25,759 Speaker 1: to some kind of a bigger pattern. The World Health 544 00:35:25,840 --> 00:35:29,840 Speaker 1: Organization estimates that as many as six hundred million people, 545 00:35:29,960 --> 00:35:32,919 Speaker 1: or almost ten percent of the world's population, gets sick 546 00:35:32,960 --> 00:35:36,400 Speaker 1: from something they ate every year it leads to more 547 00:35:36,440 --> 00:35:39,200 Speaker 1: than four hundred twenty thousand deaths, and about one hundred 548 00:35:39,200 --> 00:35:42,160 Speaker 1: and twenty five thousand of those are in children under 549 00:35:42,200 --> 00:35:46,120 Speaker 1: the age of five and then beyond illnesses. Food safety 550 00:35:46,160 --> 00:35:50,440 Speaker 1: also connects to broader issues like food security and hunger. 551 00:35:51,120 --> 00:35:53,960 Speaker 1: And I just really like the fact that one of 552 00:35:54,000 --> 00:35:56,640 Speaker 1: the big methods to try to get that in a 553 00:35:56,680 --> 00:36:01,840 Speaker 1: better place came from the Space program. So many things 554 00:36:01,840 --> 00:36:06,279 Speaker 1: that we benefit from in daily lives come from the 555 00:36:06,320 --> 00:36:09,400 Speaker 1: Space program and needs to figure out how can we 556 00:36:09,440 --> 00:36:12,280 Speaker 1: make something really really safe on a very expensive mission 557 00:36:12,520 --> 00:36:22,080 Speaker 1: hurdling through space. Yeah, thanks so much for joining us 558 00:36:22,160 --> 00:36:24,879 Speaker 1: on this Saturday. If you'd like to send us a note, 559 00:36:24,880 --> 00:36:29,640 Speaker 1: our email addresses History Podcasts at iHeartRadio dot com, and 560 00:36:29,840 --> 00:36:32,399 Speaker 1: you can subscribe to the show on the iHeartRadio app, 561 00:36:32,520 --> 00:36:35,800 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.