School children at risk of eating contaminated food
September 22nd, 2009 joshua
Poor communication is putting at least 31 million children in schools across the country at risk of eating contaminated food.
A report from the Government Accountability Office says the federal agencies which supply schools with food for lunches and breakfasts are not notifying schools of food recalls in a timely fashion.
Each day a food recall doesn’t reach its intended audience, the risk of someone eating food contaminated with Salmonella, Listeria or E. coli bacteria increases. When children eat contaminated food, they are at a higher risk of developing more severe complications because of their naturally weaker digestive and immune systems.
The GAO report focused mainly on the inability of the Food and Nutrition Service to get Food and Drug Administration warnings or when food inspectors are investigating a supplier. This means that food suspected of contamination could be served to children and all FNS had to do was inform schools that the food’s safety is questionable.
