Utah tab for food-borne illness nears $1.2 billion

SALT LAKE CITY — Food-borne illness costs Utahns almost $1.2 billion annually in health care costs and lost wages, according to a new national report, which blames lack of government oversight for the growing number of food recalls nationally.

The report was released a day before Thursday's announcement by the Food and Drug Administration that it is recalling a common flavor enhancer called hydrolyzed vegetable protein, or HVP.

Regulators said they were concerned the product — used in everything from soups and sauces to seasoned snack foods, dips and dressings — had been contaminated with salmonella in the production line. The HVP in question was produced by Basic Food Flavors Inc. in Las Vegas. A partial list of recalled products is available online at www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/HVPCP/, and officials said the list will likely grow in the coming days.

Numbers released Wednesday by the Make Our Food Safe Coalition estimate the total economic impact of food-borne illness nationally to be $152 billion annually.

Robert Scharff, a former U.S. Food and Drug Administration economist, is author of the new study for the Produce Safety Project at Georgetown University. It says 5,000 people die and 325,000 are hospitalized each year in the U.S. with food-related illness.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also estimate some 76 million Americans suffer food-related illness each year.

During a teleconference with reporters this week, Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., told reporters that Congress "can't afford to wait," on pending legislation she sponsored regarding food safety. "The public is scared. In my mind, it's time to consolidate" the 15 different federal agencies that deal with food safety. "We have 14 too many," she said.

"This report makes it clear that the gaps in our food-safety system are causing significant health and economic impacts," said Erik Olson, director of food and consumer product safety with the Pew Health Group, a member of the Make Our Food Safe coalition. "Especially in challenging economic times we cannot afford to waste billions of dollars fighting preventable diseases after it is too late."

In Utah, legislators heard testimony from local agriculture officials last month about the need to fund more food-safety inspectors in light of growing incidents of food-processing contamination. They said it's more difficult to insure food safety than ever before, noting much of what Utahns eat is shipped in from foreign nations that lack stringent safety standards.

Julia Hall, food-borne epidemiologist for the Utah Department of Health, it's impossible to know how many Utahns are sickened by food-borne illness each year, because many either don't get medical attention or don't require it.