President Clinton Announces $43 Million Program to Make U.S. Food Supply Safer

Sep 29, 2026

This story explains how foodborne germs cause widespread illness and sometimes death, citing outbreaks linked to undercooked hamburgers, contaminated apple juice, unsafe oysters, and concerns about “mad cow disease.” It describes everyday contamination pathways and the limits of relying on basic inspection methods. It then outlines government action: a $43 million food-safety program with an early-warning system led by CDC labs and expanded enforcement at slaughterhouses and processing plants, aiming to reduce future risk.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages9

Reading Time23 min

AccessFree to download

CURRENT EVENTS

HOW SAFE IS OUR FOOD?

Sidelights

IS FOOD SAFE?

Government Action

'A Shot in the Arm'

Consider This...

# President ClintonAnnounces $43 MillionProgram to Make U.S.Food Supply Safer WASHINGTON, D.C.—You'll neverguess who's coming todinner tonight. Even ifyou plan to eat alone in a closedroom,you're going to have a lot of dinnerguests.Millions of them,in fact. Every time we humans eat anything一from a candy bar to rice to a double burger # CURRENT EVENTS HOW SAFE IS OUR FO0D? A farmer imjects a diseased and dying steer with a ranqulizer.Keeping diseased meat from entering the food supply is an important sofety measure. with cheese—hordes of bacteria and othermicroscopic critters enter our bodies alongwith the food.It can't be helped.They'reall over—in the air,on the table,on thespoon,in the water. Luckily,almost all the organisms areharmless.But if food is not wellcooked oris handled in an unsanitary manner,harm-ful germs can easily sneak a ride rightinto your stomach. Last year,up to 33 million peoplebecame sick from food-borne germs.Most of those people had mild to severestomach pain.But thousands were leftwith lasting health problems,and morethan 9,000 died. Since 1993,several highly publicizedoutbreaks of food poisoning have occurred. Established 1902Valume 96lssue 19Weak of Fobrvary 17,1997 Paler Mueller/Rmuters/Archive Pholns ●Death by Hamburger.In 1993,fourchildren died in the U.S.Northwest aftereating E.coli bacteria in undercookedburgers from a fast-food chain.More than Bob lialiano # Sidelights Contaminated food may haveplayed a much larger role in his-tory than anyone has supposed.According to a theory by MaryKilbourne Matossian,a historian,rye grain contaminated by a fun-gus called ergot is the likely causeof many outbreaks of terror andhysteria,such as the Salem WitchTrials,which began in 1692.(Scene above is from"TheCrucible,"a new movie based onthe trials.) According to Matossian,ergot,which can be highly poisonous,can cause a whole range of symp-toms,including hallucinations,delusions,even death.Rye was themain grain of the settlers inSalem,and climatic conditionswere just right at the time for thegrowth of the fungus.The symp-toms displayed by the youngwomen in Salem that caused themto be accused of witchcraft,saysMatossian,are exactly the sameas those of ergot poisoning. APwide waid phoes A scientist (above)examinesirradiated tomatoes.Irradiationinvolves bombarding food withradiation to kill all germs.Irradiation makes possible thestorage of milk and other productswithout refrigeration for years.But the public has been slow toaccept irradiated food. # IS FOOD SAFE? continued from poge one 700 other people became ill. E.coli lives in the intestines and stom-achs of cattle and is spread mainlythrough undercooked beef,milk,and cont-aminated water. ·Killer Apple Juice.In October 1996, E.coli in Odwalla brand unpasteurizedapple juice sickened dozens and killed aColorado girl. ●Bad Oysters.Last month,at least150 people in Louisiana became severelyillafter eating salmonella-tainted oysters. Salmonella,also a bacterium,is in justabout all foods,but it is chiefly associatedwith eggs and poultry.The bacterium iseasily killed by cooking,but poor hygienecan lead to recontamination—for instance,putting a cooked chicken back onto acutting board where the raw chickenwas standing. ●Mad Cow Disease.Last summer,Great Britain raised fears when itannounced that ten people might havedied from eating beef believed to be taintedwith“mad cow disease.” The organism that causes mad cow dis-ease creates holes in the brain,leading tomadness and death. Since mad cow disease was linked tohuman deaths a year ago,more than 1.2million British cows have been destroyedin Great Britain.U.S.experts say that noknown incident of mad cow disease hasyet occurred in the United States. ## Government Action Growing public concern over those inci-dents and others has led to governmentaction.On January 25,President Clintondevoted his weekly radio address to theproblem of ensuring a safer food suppl

FAQs

What makes foodborne germs especially dangerous?

Harmful organisms can spread through contaminated food and poor handling, and they can multiply quickly when food is kept in the unsafe temperature range. Even when many organisms are harmless, unsafe preparation can let dangerous germs enter the body.

Which incidents are highlighted to show the risks of unsafe food?

The article cites deaths from undercooked hamburgers contaminated with E. coli, illness and death from unpasteurized apple juice, widespread sickness from contaminated oysters, and public concern about beef potentially affected by “mad cow disease.”

What government actions does the $43 million program support?

The program includes funding for an early-warning system run by the CDC to set up state labs, plus resources to enforce new food-safety rules at slaughterhouses and processing plants. It is framed as a needed boost to improve prevention and detection.

Sep 29, 2026

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