How safe is our
FOOD SUPPLY? Most often, you are your family’s first defense, says FDA leader
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By JOEY JOHNSTON, ’81
HE LAST PLACE YOU MIGHT EXPECT to face a national security threat is at the dinner table. But that’s the first concern for Frank Yiannas, the FDA’s deputy commissioner for food policy and response. Is our food supply safe? What are the greatest risks? How can consumers protect themselves and what precautions should they take? Yiannas makes sure he knows the answers. Long before the coronavirus changed American life, Yiannas was intrigued by what he called “an invisible world of things out there that could cause danger and do us harm.’’ It led him to earn a master’s in public health at USF in 2003 and fueled his passion for developing food safety strategies and techniques. “We have an incredibly safe food system,’’ says Yiannas, who held executive food-safety positions at Walt Disney World and Walmart before arriving at the Food and Drug Administration in 2018. “We can go to a grocery store and pick thousands of food products. Most will be safe, affordable and convenient. But the pandemic has re-emphasized that we all have to play our part in protecting each other.’’
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We have an incredibly safe food system. We can go to a grocery store and pick thousands of food products. Most will be safe, affordable and convenient. But the pandemic has re-emphasized that we all have to play our part in protecting each other.’’
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UNIVERSITY of SOUTH FLORIDA
– Frank Yiannas
The National Agriculture and Food defense Strategy, part of the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act of 2011, outlines the strategies for protecting the nation’s food supply from the likes of terrorists. It calls for federal regulators from the FDA and other relevant agencies, such as Homeland Security and the Department of Agriculture, to work together. Their objectives include assessing and mitigating vulnerabilities, developing ways to quickly identify food contamination, and creating science-based regulations to guard against food hazards. Foodborne disease accounts for about 48 million illnesses in the United States — one in six people. Those illnesses result in 128,000 hospitalizations and 3,000 deaths a year. But to date, the biggest culprit is unintentional contamination, not terrorism or criminal intent. Whether the source is malevolent or accidental, the FDA relies on much the same tools for prevention, detection and recovery, Yiannas says. Those include an all-hands-on-deck approach, from federal agencies, the commercial sector and consumers. “Toward the end of the last century, people began forgetting about the importance of [preventing] infectious diseases and public health,” he says. “The 20th century had great advances in modern medicine, the invention of antibiotics and the treatment of water.” Our ancestors had no such safety net. “My grandparents and parents were really aware of this,” he says. “They passed down from generation to generation the importance of thoroughly cooking food products, or cooling things rapidly. …. The pandemic has proven once again the importance of public health and the personal actions that we all must take.’’ Those are basic: washing your hands before preparing food, making sure foods are stored at the proper temperatures, avoiding cross-contamination. Once a contaminant has been introduced, whether intentionally or not, speed is crucial in identifying the source so it can be addressed. Advances in technology have given us a big advantage, Yiannas says. Blockchain technology – which digitizes a food-supply record from its origins – can quickly isolate food-safety issues and determine where they started. He describes tracing a package of sliced mangos to its source several years ago using conventional methods. From growers and small farmers to shelves at the world’s largest retailer, following
