Listeria
October 27, 2003
IDFA Effort Yields Positive Results in Listeria Risk Assessment
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last week released its long-awaited final risk assessment on the relationship between foodborne listeriosis and human health. The assessment ranks the relative risk of listeriosis from 23 common, ready-to-eat foods — including 11 categories of dairy foods — in the American diet.
IDFA has worked closely with FDA throughout the life of the project — since June 2001 — providing data on the incidence of Listeria monocytogenes in dairy foods and commenting on conclusions and suggested messaging concerning milk, cheese and other dairy products. In last week's announcement, FDA publicly upgraded its previous recommendations concerning soft cheeses, cautioning certain populations about soft cheese only if made from unpasteurized milk. Within the full report, the agency also reconfirmed the safety of dairy products, citing particularly low risk for such foods as ice cream, cultured dairy products, processed cheese and hard cheeses.
"We were very pleased with the progress FDA made over the life of this large project, and the care they took in formulating the final report," said IDFA Vice President of Regulatory Affairs Cary Frye. "We believe our efforts with FDA clarified the extremely low possibility of listeriosis from ice cream and hard cheeses and pasteurized milk, as well as the fact that soft cheeses made from pasteurized milk are safe for pregnant women and immuno-compromised individuals."
In its messages to consumers, FDA emphasized that listeriosis is mainly a concern for pregnant women, older adults and people with weakened immune systems. Specifically, the soft cheese message to these consumers now reads: "Do not eat soft cheese such as Feta, Brie, and Camembert cheeses, blue-veined cheeses, queso fresco, and Panela, unless it is labeled as made with pasteurized milk."
FDA publicly highlighted the role of consumers in keeping ready-to-eat foods cooled to proper temperatures at home. FDA also noted that listeriosis is rare; in fact, it notes a 40% decrease in the incidence of foodborne listerioisis over the past five years due to improved food safety practices.
With the final report now published, IDFA will support a petition to have certain foods that ranked very low in listeriosis risk — such as ice cream and hard cheeses — allowed a tolerance for listeria. This would replace the current "zero tolerance" policy, in which finding even one listeria bacterium requires a product recall.
For more information the risk assessment, click here to visit FDA's website, which includes a Question-and-Answer document. For more information, contact Cary Frye at cfrye@idfa.org, (202)220-3543.
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