U.S. Food System Working Conditions as an Issue of Food Safety

2016 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 599-621 ◽  
Author(s):  
Megan L. Clayton ◽  
Katherine C. Smith ◽  
Keshia M. Pollack ◽  
Roni A. Neff ◽  
Lainie Rutkow
Keyword(s):  
Food Safety ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
Public Safety ◽  
Occupational Safety ◽  
Food System ◽  
Disease Outbreaks ◽  
The United States ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Organizational Strategies ◽  
Safe Food

Food workers’ health and hygiene are common pathways to foodborne disease outbreaks. Improving food system jobs is important to food safety because working conditions impact workers’ health, hygiene, and safe food handling. Stakeholders from key industries have advanced working conditions as an issue of public safety in the United States. Yet, for the food industry, stakeholder engagement with this topic is seemingly limited. To understand this lack of action, we interviewed key informants from organizations recognized for their agenda-setting role on food-worker issues. Findings suggest that participants recognize the work standards/food safety connection, yet perceived barriers limit adoption of a food safety frame, including more pressing priorities (e.g., occupational safety); poor fit with organizational strategies and mission; and questionable utility, including potential negative consequences. Using these findings, we consider how public health advocates may connect food working conditions to food and public safety and elevate it to the public policy agenda.

IMPACT OF OSHA ON GEOPHYSICAL OPERATIONS

Geophysics ◽  
1972 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 380-380
Author(s):  
Frank Searcy
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Human Resources ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
Occupational Safety ◽  
District Of Columbia ◽  
The United States ◽  
Occupational Safety And Health ◽  
Safety And Health

The Williams‐Steiger Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 has placed new responsibilities on everyone involved in geophysical operations in the United States. This law applies in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and territories under the jurisdiction of the United States. The declared congressional purpose of the act is “to assure so far as possible every working man and woman in the nation safe and healthful working conditions and to preserve our human resources.”

A Short History of Occupational Safety and Health in the United States

2020 ◽  
Vol 110 (5) ◽  
pp. 622-628
Author(s):  
David Rosner ◽  
Gerald Markowitz
Keyword(s):  
Working Conditions ◽  
Occupational Safety ◽  
The United States ◽  
Occupational Safety And Health ◽  
Mine Safety ◽  
Health Administration ◽  
Short History ◽  
Safety And Health ◽  
Before And After ◽  
History Of

As this short history of occupational safety and health before and after establishment of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) clearly demonstrates, labor has always recognized perils in the workplace, and as a result, workers’ safety and health have played an essential part of the battles for shorter hours, higher wages, and better working conditions. OSHA’s history is an intimate part of a long struggle over the rights of working people to a safe and healthy workplace. In the early decades, strikes over working conditions multiplied. The New Deal profoundly increased the role of the federal government in the field of occupational safety and health. In the 1960s, unions helped mobilize hundreds of thousands of workers and their unions to push for federal legislation that ultimately resulted in the passage of the Mine Safety and Health Act of 1969 and the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970. From the 1970s onward, industry developed a variety of tactics to undercut OSHA. Industry argued over what constituted good science, shifted the debate from health to economic costs, and challenged all statements considered damaging.

Consumer-Reported Handling of Raw Poultry Products at Home: Results from a National Survey

2015 ◽  
Vol 78 (1) ◽  
pp. 180-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
KATHERINE M. KOSA ◽  
SHERYL C. CATES ◽  
SAMANTHA BRADLEY ◽  
EDGAR CHAMBERS ◽  
SANDRIA GODWIN
Keyword(s):  
Food Safety ◽  
Cold Water ◽  
Disease Outbreaks ◽  
The United States ◽  
Safety Practices ◽  
Poultry Products ◽  
Study Results ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
Raw Poultry ◽  
At Home

Salmonella and Campylobacter cause an estimated combined total of 1.8 million foodborne infections each year in the United States. Most cases of salmonellosis and campylobacteriosis are associated with eating raw or undercooked poultry or with cross-contamination. Between 1998 and 2008, 20% of Salmonella and 16% of Campylobacter foodborne disease outbreaks were associated with food prepared inside the home. A nationally representative Web survey of U.S. adult grocery shoppers (n = 1,504) was conducted to estimate the percentage of consumers who follow recommended food safety practices when handling raw poultry at home. The survey results identified areas of low adherence to current recommended food safety practices: not washing raw poultry before cooking, proper refrigerator storage of raw poultry, use of a food thermometer to determine doneness, and proper thawing of raw poultry in cold water. Nearly 70% of consumers reported washing or rinsing raw poultry before cooking it, a potentially unsafe practice because “splashing” of contaminated water may lead to the transfer of pathogens to other foods and other kitchen surfaces. Only 17.5% of consumers reported correctly storing raw poultry in the refrigerator. Sixty-two percent of consumers own a food thermometer, and of these, 26% or fewer reported using one to check the internal temperature of smaller cuts of poultry and ground poultry. Only 11% of consumers who thaw raw poultry in cold water reported doing so correctly. The study results, coupled with other research findings, will inform the development of science-based consumer education materials that can help reduce foodborne illness from Salmonella and Campylobacter.

Exploring Food Safety Messages in an Era of COVID-19: Analysis of YouTube Video Content

2021 ◽  
Vol 84 (6) ◽  
pp. 1000-1008
Author(s):  
MERLYN THOMAS ◽  
PEYTON HAYNES ◽  
JUAN C. ARCHILA-GODÍNEZ ◽  
MAI NGUYEN ◽  
WENQING XU ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Food Safety ◽  
Health Care Professional ◽  
Food Packaging ◽  
Food System ◽  
Safety Information ◽  
Educational Interventions ◽  
The United States ◽  
Grocery Store ◽  
Government Agencies

ABSTRACT Although severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is not a proven foodborne pathogen, the COVID-19 pandemic has put the food system on alert, and food safety has been identified as an important pillar in mitigating the crisis. Therefore, an understanding of how popular media are used as a vital disseminator of food safety and health information for the public is more important than ever. YouTube deserves particular attention as one of the most highly trafficked Web sites on the Internet, especially because YouTube has been blamed during the pandemic for spreading misleading or untrustworthy information that contradicts validated information. This study was conducted to evaluate the food safety information and practices circulating on YouTube during the COVID-19 pandemic and the alignment of these practices with recommendations from government agencies. A search for videos on YouTube was conducted using the key words “food and COVID-19,” “food safety and COVID-19,” and “groceries and COVID-19.” After applying a series of inclusive and exclusive criteria, 85 videos from the United States and Canada were evaluated. More than half (69%) of the videos presented hand washing procedures, 26% showed kitchen disinfection, and most (86%) showed take-out food or grocery store practices. Multiple produce washing procedures were also shown throughout videos. Food was not considered hazardous in 39% of the videos, but 24% mentioned that food packaging is potentially hazardous. Most videos cited government agencies and had a host or guest who was a health care professional, professor, or expert. Three videos were not aligned with a government agency's guideline or information cited; two were presented by a health care professional. These findings reveal the need to develop educational interventions that increase YouTube video host and guest awareness of social media use as a tool for food safety dissemination and the need to provide trustworthy information. HIGHLIGHTS

Leaving a Profession after It's Left You: Teachers’ Public Resignation Letters as Resistance Amidst Neoliberalism

2018 ◽  
Vol 120 (9) ◽  
pp. 1-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alyssa Hadley Dunn
Keyword(s):  
Standardized Testing ◽  
Digital Media ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
Teacher Attrition ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
The United States ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Teacher Resistance ◽  
Neoliberal Reforms ◽  
Teacher Evaluation Systems

Context Though there is a growing field of research on what makes teachers leave, little research includes an analysis of narratives written directly by teachers. Yet, amidst a growing body of teacher writing and a surge in digital media, there has emerged a new genre of teachers’ public resignation letters, many of which go “viral” when posted online. This research is contextualized by literature on teacher attrition and neoliberalism and framed within theories of teacher agency and teacher resistance. Purpose Within a context where the letters themselves are becoming more popular and the rates of teacher attrition continue to rise in troubling ways, this study explores a new genre by investigating the content and strategies employed in public resignation letters from teachers around the United States. Research Design This research employed a qualitative design, drawing on methods of content analysis, to analyze 23 publicly available resignation letters. Conclusions I argue that these letters represent a new form of public discourse. This discourse allows teachers to exercise their personal and professional agency in the form of resistance to dominant narratives about what public education is and should be and what current neoliberal reforms are doing to teachers and students. These among other reasons I uncovered through thematic coding are linked to contextual factors rather than individual ones, pointing to the limits of retention in a climate that does not support teachers’ agency. Further, the majority of reasons for leaving are explicitly or implicitly tied to current neoliberal educational policies. According to their letters, teachers left the profession because (1) neoliberal reforms and policies threatened learning conditions and (2) these reforms had negative consequences for teachers’ working conditions and beliefs. Specific neoliberal reforms and policies that were mentioned in the letters include: increased standardized testing and restrictions on curriculum, which teachers argued reflected a lack of care for students’ socioemotional needs; decreasing pay/benefits; and punitive teacher evaluation systems. In addition, the consequences of these reforms meant that teachers felt: a lack of time, a mismatch between their beliefs and the reality of teaching in today's educational climate, and a lack of trust and respect for their profession, and a lack of control over their working conditions.

scholarly journals What can be the Role of Public-Private Partnerships and the role of the Collective Action in Ensuring Sustainable Smallholder Participation in High Value Fruit and Vegetable Supply Chains in Albania?

2013 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 323
Author(s):  
Hergys SULI ◽  
Florjan BOMBAJ ◽  
Gjergj XHABIJA ◽  
Dudi SULI
Keyword(s):  
Food Safety ◽  
Fruits And Vegetables ◽  
Food System ◽  
Cropping Systems ◽  
Production Capacity ◽  
Public Private Partnerships ◽  
Mediterranean Country ◽  
Coordination Costs ◽  
Safe Food

Albania is a Mediterranean country where fruitsand vegetables occupy an important placein the cropping systems practiced by theAlbanian farms but also in the foodconsumption of the population. Today, the fruits and vegetables growers in Albania havelow production capacity and difficulties inselling their products on national and regionalmarket. These poor producers face problems ofhow to produce safe food (World Bank2007), be recognized as producing safe food, identify cost-effective technologies forreducing risk, and be competitive with larger producers with advantage of economies ofscale in compliance with food safety requirements. In enabling the smallholders to remaincompetitive in such a system, new institutional arrangements are required. The new andemerging food system (dominated by domestic urban market and export markets,regional competitiveness, globalization, etc.) with high demands for compliance with foodsafety and traceability disfavor the smallholders due tohigh coordination costs. Theproblem is exacerbated by geographic dispersion, low education, and poor access tocapital and information (Poulton 2005; Humphrey 2005; Rich and Narrod 2005). Themain idea of this paper is that the public-private partnerships can play a key role increating farm to fork linkages that can satisfy the market demands for food safety whileretaining smallholders in the supply chain. Our big question is “how this can be possiblein Albania and which are the rightpolicies to forward this idea?

Industrial Hygiene Review of Three Manufacturing Facilities in Senegal: Findings and Key Questions

2000 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 439-448
Author(s):  
Richard M. Lynch ◽  
Ismaila Mbaye
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
Poverty Reduction ◽  
Occupational Safety ◽  
Industrial Hygiene ◽  
The United States ◽  
Health Administration ◽  
Safety And Health ◽  
Political Economies ◽  
Manufacturing Facilities

An industrial hygiene review was conducted in pesticide, asbestos, and cement manufacturing facilities in Senegal to provide the Senegalese Ministry of Labor with recommendations for improving working conditions. Findings show severe under-reporting of occupational illnesses, and major shortcomings in terms of worker training, personal protective equipment use, emergency planning, and other traditional industrial hygiene controls. Despite these findings, a comparison between observed conditions and the proposed Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Safety and Health Program Management standard shows that these companies would probably not be considered grossly non-compliant by U.S. standards, and suggests that strong regulatory enforcement of actual working conditions remains a necessity. This analysis also suggests that compliance with the proposed standard would not in itself assure that such dire shortcomings as were observed could not legally exist here in the United States. Key differences between the political economies of developing nations and the United States suggest that improving working conditions requires a comprehensive planning effort addressing poverty reduction, environmental considerations, and economic growth. Three fundamental questions are proposed which should be addressed to improve working conditions in Senegal.

Leveraging Machine Learning To Assess Market-Level Food Safety And Zoonotic Disease Risks In China

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qihua Gao ◽  
Retsef Levi ◽  
Nicholas Renegar
Keyword(s):  
Machine Learning ◽  
Food Safety ◽  
High Risk ◽  
Data Science ◽  
Food System ◽  
Disease Outbreaks ◽  
Zoonotic Disease ◽  
Machine Learning Techniques ◽  
Risk Scores ◽  
Safety Risks

Abstract While many have advocated for widespread closure of Chinese wet and wholesale markets due to numerous zoonotic disease outbreaks (e.g., SARS) and food safety risks, this is impractical due to their central role in China’s food system. This first-of-its-kind work offers a data science enabled approach to identify market-level risks. Using a massive, self-constructed dataset of food safety tests, market-level adulteration risk scores are created through machine learning techniques. Analysis shows that provinces with more high-risk markets also have more human cases of zoonotic flu, and specific markets associated with zoonotic disease have higher risk scores. Furthermore, it is shown that high-risk markets have management deficiencies (e.g., illegal wild animal sales), potentially indicating that increased and integrated regulation targeting high-risk markets could mitigate these risks.

Food Activism

Food Fights ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 61-78
Author(s):  
Steve Striffler
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
Food System ◽  
The United States ◽  
Alternative Methods ◽  
Profit Motive ◽  
Human Need ◽  
Food Activism ◽  
New System

Food activism in the United States has followed two broad currents that are critical of the conventional food system. The first seeks to reform the system by improving wages, working conditions, and the environmental impact, and the second focuses on alternative methods of production, transportation, and marketing. Steve Striffler argues that neither of these approaches has been terribly successful in changing the conventional food system because they are quickly co-opted by profit seeking corporations. Meaningful change, says Striffler, will only come when we remove the profit motive from the food system, and build a new system based on human need.

Overview of Leafy Greens–Related Food Safety Incidents with a California Link: 1996 to 2016

2019 ◽  
Vol 82 (3) ◽  
pp. 405-414 ◽  
Author(s):  
KALI TURNER ◽  
CHEE NOU MOUA ◽  
MAHA HAJMEER ◽  
AMBER BARNES ◽  
MICHAEL NEEDHAM
Keyword(s):  
Food Safety ◽  
Emergency Response ◽  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Descriptive Analysis ◽  
Disease Outbreaks ◽  
The United States ◽  
Foodborne Illness ◽  
Health Food ◽  
California Department ◽  
Leafy Greens

ABSTRACT An increase in the number of foodborne illness outbreaks associated with produce has been noted in the literature, and leafy greens have been the most common produce category associated with these outbreaks. California is the largest leafy greens producer in the United States, and many related foodborne illness incidents were traced to this state. A systematic overview of leafy greens incidents linked to California was conducted by the California Department of Public Health, Food and Drug Branch through analysis of complaints, routine surveillance sampling, disease outbreaks, and investigations covering 1996 to 2016. The goal was to develop a risk assessment tool to modernize emergency response efforts to foodborne illnesses related to leafy greens. A database including environmental, epidemiologic, and laboratory information for each incident was developed, and descriptive analysis was performed to identify trends. In the 21-year period analyzed, 134 incidents were identified, the majority of which were surveillance related. Approximately 2,240 U.S. cases of confirmed illness were reported (298 California cases resulting in 50 hospitalizations). Romaine lettuce and spinach were the most commonly implicated vehicles. The most prevalent hazard type was microbiological, in particular bacterial, specifically associated with pathogenic strains of Escherichia coli. In California, the overview provided the Food and Drug Branch with a platform to (i) enhance its Food Safety Program, Emergency Response Unit, and California Food Emergency Response Team; (ii) assist in more efficient investigation, response, control, and prevention of California-linked foodborne illness incidents; and (iii) identify knowledge gaps and develop effective definitions, procedures, training, guidelines, and policies that will be used to help prevent future outbreaks. Outcomes provide insight into the situation in the largest leafy greens–producing state and may be used to prioritize limited national food safety resources and aid in future leafy greens–related research and foodborne incident investigations.

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