During my daily news hunt I encountered an interesting story in the Minneapolis Star Tribune regarding a proposed national response process to food-borne illness. With many clients in the food and restaurant category, we often find ourselves fashioning communications strategies within very tight deadline scenarios in the midst of USDA and FDA regulatory activities. Differing policies from state to state often make the process quite cumbersome.
Enter Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.). Senator Klobuchar plans to introduce a bill next week to improve the nation’s food-borne illness surveillance system. Such a move will create improved federal support of state health departments and mandate uniform responses to food-borne health emergencies that are created by illnesses such as Salmonella and E coli.
We have yet to see the fine print on the legislation, but the rationale behind such a policy initiative could result in streamlined communications leading to a public that is better informed in a more timely manner. From that, everyone can benefit.
