Will a government shutdown impact the safety of our food?

If it seems food safety issues are on the rise, that's because they are. About 48 million people contract some form of food poisoning each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The question on many people's minds is whether the federal investigators in charge of food safety are still around to protect the public, or if they too have been furloughed.

According to a Department of Health and Human Services contingency plan, the Food and Drug Administration "will be unable to support the majority of its food safety, nutrition, and cosmetics activities" in the event of a government shutdown. However, that plan identifies approximately 700 FDA staff members who would remain to "inspect regulated products and manufacturers, conduct sample analysis on products and review imports offered for entry into the U.S."

The United States Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service has 9,633 employees, 8,415 of whom are still working. A little more than 1,200 employees are furloughed but field inspections of meat, poultry and egg products continues, according to Dr. Elisabeth Hagen, Under Secretary for Food Safety at the USDA.

"Bottom line they are on the job and reporting to work," Hagen told CNN. "The Foster Farms alert (related to the Salmonella outbreak) is a result of an ongoing investigation."

So despite the government shutdown, food safety inspections remain at, or nearly at, normal levels. But that may not be as safe as you think.

Here is a breakdown of each of the government agencies in charge of food safety:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Food Safety Role: In the food safety chain, the agency's mission is to protect the American public from health threats, usually in the form of food-borne illness.

The CDC works in tandem with the Food and Drug Administration to investigate individual cases and outbreaks of food-borne illness and trace them back to their origin.

Food and Drug

Administration

Food Safety Role: The FDA regulates all food not overseen by the USDA, which inspects poultry, meat and processed egg products. The FDA has a multi-faceted role in the food safety chain, which can be broken down like this:

- Food defense: The FDA works with other governmental agencies and private businesses to prevent and reduce the risk of malicious attacks on the food system from terrorists, criminals, counterfeiters and others who would seek to harm the public.

- Recalls: The FDA keeps the public apprised of voluntary recalls by food companies, and recently gained the authority to issue mandatory recalls of foods that have a "reasonable probability" of being adulterated or misbranded and could cause serious illness or death to humans or animals.

- Outbreaks: The Coordinated Outbreak Response and Evaluation (A different CORE than the aforementioned CDC FoodCORE) network manages outbreak response, as well as monitoring activities after an illness has been identified.

- Labeling: The FDA is responsible for assuring that foods sold in the United States are safe, wholesome and properly labeled. This applies to foods produced domestically, as well as foods from foreign countries.

Food Safety and

Inspection Service

Food Safety Role:: FSIS is the public health agency in the USDA in charge of making sure that the nation's commercial supply of meat (excluding game meats), poultry, and egg products is safe, wholesome, and correctly labeled and packaged.

United States Department of Agriculture

Food Safety Role: The USDA has primary responsibility for the safety of meat, poultry and certain egg products. The agency's authority is regulated by: the Federal Meat Inspection Act, the Poultry Products Inspection Act, the Egg Products Inspection Act and the Humane Methods of Livestock Slaughter Act.

The USDA is the leader in setting the federal policies that determine national standards for food safety, and has also maintained the Meat and Poultry Hotline (888-674-6854) since 1985.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and National Marine Fisheries Service

Food Safety Role: The FDA is the primary agency responsible for ensuring the safety, wholesomeness, and proper labeling of domestic and imported seafood products. But the NMFS, which is part of the U.S. Department of Commerce, conducts, a voluntary, fee-based seafood inspection and grading service under NOAA. This program focuses on marketing and quality attributes of domestic fish and shellfish, per the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946. These services are provided nationwide, in U.S. territories and in foreign countries.

HHS

Stands for: Department of Health and Human Services

Food Safety Role: HHS is the parent organization of the FDA and the National Institutes of Health. The agency is currently working in collaboration with federal food safety partners and the President’s Food Safety Working Group (FSWG), to develop a flexible and responsive food safety system.

The stated goals of the FSWG include prioritizing prevention, strengthening surveillance and enforcement and improving response and recovery. The group is chaired by Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack.

HHS also maintains the FoodSafety.gov website, which consolidates recalls, alerts, food safety and food poisoning information, as information about reporting food problems.

Consumer resources:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Food and Drug Administration's Recalls, Market Withdrawals, & Safety Alerts

FDA Food Safety

FoodSafety.gov

United States Department of Agriculture Food Safety Education

IsItDoneYet.gov

Previously:

Salmonella outbreak linked to tainted chicken

Food poisoning: What you need to know

More on food poisoning from CNN Health and all food-borne illness coverage on Eatocracy

Posted by: Jacque Wilson -- CNN, Kat Kinsman -- Eatocracy managing editor

Filed under: Clarified • Culture • Food Safety • Health News • Tainted Food

This article was taken from the webpage of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.