Six months earlier, in June 2008, contaminated tomatoes harmed 228 people in 23 states, and brand names like McDonalds, Burger King, and Taco Bell were affected. Earlier in 2008, contaminated beef was shipped to public schools, and 143 million pounds were recalled and destroyed. 

The Obama administration has pledged better controls and urgent reform, recognizing that this remains a significant public safety issue.  For example, of the 150,000 domestic food processing facilities in the USA, only 4.6% are inspected each year by the FDA.  Approximately another 150,000 global facilities supplying food to the US are not inspected by the US government at all.  The most recent contamination incident happened on March 27, 2009.  Pistachios were found to be contaminated by Kraft foods, and the U.S. government moved swiftly.  On April 7, the New York Times reported that the nation’s second-largest processor of pistachios agreed, due to government pressure, to recall its entire 2008 crop, despite that fact that no confirmed illnesses had taken place. 

Food contamination is so prevalent that some law firms have built practices targeting those affected and consistently win judgments.  Reports indicate that for less severe cases of illness plaintiffs can win between $25,000 and $500,000; settlements and judgments range from $1M to $15M for life threatening cases.

All of this has happened while 1 million food pathogen tests are run daily at an annual cost of nearly $1.0 billion and advances in sophisticated technologies like DNA testing and immunoassays analysis have been implemented.