Featured Issue Briefs

Focus On: Food Import Safety

Americans’ appetite for imported food has expanded dramatically over the past few decades. For each of the past seven years, food imports have grown by an average of 10 percent. Currently, between 10 and 15 percent of all food consumed by U.S. households is imported. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), nearly two-thirds of the fruits and vegetables and 80 percent of seafood consumed domestically come from outside the United States. In this issue brief, the Pew Health Group and Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) address the safety of imported seafood and raw produce, two of the largest categories of FDA-regulated food items produced and processed abroad and then sold in the United States. More info

Food Products Recalled By FDA

Since President Obama signed the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act into law, at least 149 FDA-regulated food products have been recalled due to potential pathogenic contamination. A recall is needed when a failure in the food safety program in a food facility results in contaminated food products being shipped to supermarkets and other retail and wholesale outlets. A recall is the last line of defense that protects consumers from getting sick.

Foodborne Pathogens Associated with Fresh Fruits and Vegetables

There are a number of foodborne microbial pathogens associated with the consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables that can cause illness or death among consumers who eat contaminated produce.

This document summarizes the major foodborne microbial pathogens that may be found in fresh produce, including Cyclospora cayetanensis, Escherichia coli O157:H7, Hepatitis A, Listeria monocytogenes, Norovirus, Salmonella spp., and Shigella spp.

Getting with the Program

This report  finds that nearly one in 10 community college students in the U.S. can’t get a federal loan if they need one because their schools choose not to participate in the federal loan programs. More info

Health Care and the Antibiotic Resistance Crisis

Many public health officials and medical organizations are increasingly concerned about the rising incidence of antibiotic-resistant infections in the United States. According to the Interagency Task Force on Antimicrobial Resistance, unless antibiotic resistance ―problems are detected as they emerge—and actions are taken quickly to contain them—the world may soon be faced with previously treatable diseases that have again become untreatable, as in the pre-antibiotic era.

Helping School Meals Make the Grade

The National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs provide meals to tens of millions of children each day, accounting for up to one-half of those students’ daily calories. However, more than 90 percent of schools serve meals that do not even meet the minimum national school meal standards.

Home At Last: Safe, Permanent Families for Foster Children

The Pew Charitable Trusts launched the Home at Last initiative in 2003 to advance public policies that would keep children from languishing in foster care.

How Antibiotic Resistance Happens

Frequent, low doses of antibiotics that are not strong enough to kill all bacteria encourage some bacteria to develop means of survival, or to become “resistant.”