Publisher’s Platform: Time to bring back the Microbiological Data Program (MDP) to help Make Produce Safe Again (MPSA)

So as Food Safety News Editor, Dan Flynn, said in 2012, let us thank United Fresh Produce Association for:

–       Killing the nation’s only (real) produce surveillance program (it was on life support until the end of 2012 and FDA has a small program).

–       Turning Congress against the only (real) program to collect data on the prevalence of foodborne pathogens in domestic and imported produce.

–       Leaving the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and state health departments in the dark about the incidence of pathogens in fresh produce commodities.

–       Keeping tainting products in the marketplace – MDP testing had been responsible for 23 produce recalls during 2010 and 2011 alone, and 15 of these involved human illnesses.

Did I tell you that the MDP costs us taxpayers only $5,000,000 per year? Here is what is still on the USDA’s website:

The Microbiological Data Program (MDP) was a national food-borne pathogen monitoring program that operated from 2001 to 2012.  Through cooperation with State agriculture departments and other Federal agencies, MDP managed the sampling, testing, and reporting of food-borne pathogens on selected agricultural commodities.

In 2001, USDA was charged with implementing a monitoring program to collect information regarding the incidence, number, and species of important foodborne pathogens and indicator organisms on domestic and imported fresh fruit and vegetables.  AMS was appointed to undertake the creation and implementation of such a program, known as the Microbiological Data Program (MDP). MDP began collecting and analyzing samples in April 2001. MDP operations ended in December 2012 due to the elimination of program funding.

The data generated from MDP are available to Federal and State Public Health agencies and industry for food safety decision-making purposes, risk modeling, and trend analyses.

The Microbiological Data Program (MDP), initiated in 2001, collected information on the prevalence of harmful bacteria in fresh produce. These datasets and reports provide data obtained through testing of fresh fruit and vegetables for the presence of Salmonella, Listeria monocytogenes, Shigella, and pathogenic E. coli. Produce samples were collected from more than 600 food distribution sites within the continental United States. The testing was performed by State Department of Agriculture laboratories that participated in the program and AMS’ National Science Laboratory. The Food and Drug Administration was notified whenever a product tested positive for the presence of harmful bacteria and the source of contamination could be removed from the food distribution system. This information was also provided to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and State Departments of Health to aid in the surveillance of food-related outbreaks.

• Instructions for data download (pdf)
• MDP 2011 Data in ZIP File (Released November 2012)
• MDP 2010 Data in ZIP File (Released November 2012)
• MDP 2009 Peanut Butter Data in Excel File or Text File – Data for Salmonella/Peanut Butter special survey conducted from February-September 2009
• Data Dictionary for MDP Salmonella /Peanut Butter Dataset (pdf)
• Progress Update and 2009 Data Summary (pdf) (Released January 2011)
• Progress Update and 2008 Data Summary (pdf) (released September 2009)
• Progress Update and 2007 Data Summary (pdf) (released March 2008)
• Progress Update and 2006 Data Summary (pdf) (released January 2007)
• Progress Update and 2005 Data Summary (pdf) (released March 2006)
• Testing History (pdf)