New Report: American Lives at Risk from Unsafe Foods

Food Recalls Rack Up $227 Million in Economic Costs in 2011 and 2012

News Release
Contact Nasima Hossain

Washington DC, October 24 – Despite government commitments to address the problem, food recalls are on the rise and our food safety systems are broken, according to a new report by U.S. PIRG. Contaminated food makes 48 million Americans sick every year and costs over $77 billion in aggregated economic costs. In the USA over the last 21 months, 1753 people were made sick from foodborne illnesses linked directly to food recalls and the cost was over $227 million.

“Every year we see hundreds of food products recalled, because they have caused sickness and in some cases death. 2012 has already seen nearly twice as many illnesses due to recalls as 2011, with high-profile recalls of cantaloupes and hundreds of thousands of jars of peanut butter,” said Nasima Hossain, Public Health Advocate for U.S. PIRG. “More needs to be done to identify the contaminants that are making us sick and to protect Americans from the risk of unsafe food.”

The report, “Total Food Recall: Unsafe Foods Putting American Lives at Risk,” analyzed nationwide recall information issued by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS)...

Source: New Report: American Lives at Risk from Unsafe Foods
Author: UNITED STATES PUBLIC INTEREST RESEARCH GROUP

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