Outbreak
Foodborne Illness and the Struggle for Food Safety
9780226611686
9780226611716
Outbreak
Foodborne Illness and the Struggle for Food Safety
Foodborne illness is a big problem. Wash those chicken breasts, and you’re likely to spread Salmonella to your countertops, kitchen towels, and other foods nearby. Even salad greens can become biohazards when toxic strains of E. coli inhabit the water used to irrigate crops. All told, contaminated food causes 48 million illnesses, 128,000 hospitalizations, and 3,000 deaths each year in the United States.
With Outbreak, Timothy D. Lytton provides an up-to-date history and analysis of the US food safety system. He pays particular attention to important but frequently overlooked elements of the system, including private audits and liability insurance.
Lytton chronicles efforts dating back to the 1800s to combat widespread contamination by pathogens such as E. coli and salmonella that have become frighteningly familiar to consumers. Over time, deadly foodborne illness outbreaks caused by infected milk, poison hamburgers, and tainted spinach have spurred steady scientific and technological advances in food safety. Nevertheless, problems persist. Inadequate agency budgets restrict the reach of government regulation. Pressure from consumers to keep prices down constrains industry investments in safety. The limits of scientific knowledge leave experts unable to assess policies’ effectiveness and whether measures designed to reduce contamination have actually improved public health. Outbreak offers practical reforms that will strengthen the food safety system’s capacity to learn from its mistakes and identify cost-effective food safety efforts capable of producing measurable public health benefits.
With Outbreak, Timothy D. Lytton provides an up-to-date history and analysis of the US food safety system. He pays particular attention to important but frequently overlooked elements of the system, including private audits and liability insurance.
Lytton chronicles efforts dating back to the 1800s to combat widespread contamination by pathogens such as E. coli and salmonella that have become frighteningly familiar to consumers. Over time, deadly foodborne illness outbreaks caused by infected milk, poison hamburgers, and tainted spinach have spurred steady scientific and technological advances in food safety. Nevertheless, problems persist. Inadequate agency budgets restrict the reach of government regulation. Pressure from consumers to keep prices down constrains industry investments in safety. The limits of scientific knowledge leave experts unable to assess policies’ effectiveness and whether measures designed to reduce contamination have actually improved public health. Outbreak offers practical reforms that will strengthen the food safety system’s capacity to learn from its mistakes and identify cost-effective food safety efforts capable of producing measurable public health benefits.
384 pages | 11 line drawings, 2 tables | 6 x 9 | © 2019
Law and Legal Studies: General Legal Studies
Political Science: American Government and Politics
Reviews
Table of Contents
1 Trouble in the Fields: An Introduction to the Food Safety System
2 The Gospel of Clean Milk: Dairy Sanitation, Pasteurization, and the Origins of the American Food Safety System
3 Canned Foods under Pressure: HACCP and the Dynamics of Food Safety Reform
4 Building a Better Burger: How Media Coverage and Civil Litigation Facilitate Policy Change
5 Making Salad Safe Again: GAPs and the Complex Network Structure of Food Safety Governance
6 Bean Counting: The Challenges of Assessing Food Safety Efforts
7 From Fork to Farm: Honing the Tools of Outbreak Investigation
8 Recipes for Reform: Supporting Evidence-Based Food Safety Governance and Improving Private Oversight
9 Food for Thought: Reflections on Complexity, Uncertainty, and Evolution
Appendix A: How Researchers Estimate the Number of Cases and Economic Costs of Foodborne Illness
Appendix B: Legal Doctrines Governing Liability for Foodborne Illness and Litigation Dynamics
Appendix C: The Origins of Third-Party Food Safety Auditing in the United States
Appendix D: The Politics behind the California Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement
List of Abbreviations
Timeline of Significant Events
Acknowledgments
Notes
Index
2 The Gospel of Clean Milk: Dairy Sanitation, Pasteurization, and the Origins of the American Food Safety System
3 Canned Foods under Pressure: HACCP and the Dynamics of Food Safety Reform
4 Building a Better Burger: How Media Coverage and Civil Litigation Facilitate Policy Change
5 Making Salad Safe Again: GAPs and the Complex Network Structure of Food Safety Governance
6 Bean Counting: The Challenges of Assessing Food Safety Efforts
7 From Fork to Farm: Honing the Tools of Outbreak Investigation
8 Recipes for Reform: Supporting Evidence-Based Food Safety Governance and Improving Private Oversight
9 Food for Thought: Reflections on Complexity, Uncertainty, and Evolution
Appendix A: How Researchers Estimate the Number of Cases and Economic Costs of Foodborne Illness
Appendix B: Legal Doctrines Governing Liability for Foodborne Illness and Litigation Dynamics
Appendix C: The Origins of Third-Party Food Safety Auditing in the United States
Appendix D: The Politics behind the California Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement
List of Abbreviations
Timeline of Significant Events
Acknowledgments
Notes
Index