Bird Flu May Contaminate Foods; U.S. to Study Risks
Pastor Dale Morgan
Bird Flu May Contaminate Foods; U.S. to Study Risks*
By John Lauerman
March 14 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration will study
the potential for bird flu to contaminate prepared foods, including
fish, animal feed and poultry.
The agency will compile a list of foods and dietary supplements at risk
of contamination with avian influenza because they contain meat from
poultry, come from animals that live near birds or might have been in
contact with infected humans, according to a document posted today on
the FDA Web site.
Proper cooking of chicken and other poultry kills H5N1, the deadly bird
virus that has spread to some people, said the agency, based in
Rockville, Maryland. Scientists say the virus might set off a deadly
pandemic among humans. ``Ready-to-eat'' foods that require little or no
cooking might be contaminated with virus by workers who have bird flu,
exposing people who consume the foods.
``We know the effect that avian influenza has had on the public
perception of food in Europe where there have been outbreaks,'' said
Boris Lushniak, the FDA assistant commissioner who wrote the plan, in a
telephone interview today. ``We want food and feed safety issues to be
answered, in case we were to have avian influenza in this country.''
The FDA will estimate the ``likely level and frequency of contamination
of ready-to-eat foods by infectious respiratory droplets from human
cases of pandemic influenza,'' the agency said in its planning document.
Digestive Tract
While some scientists say stomach acids destroy the virus, several cases
seen last year in Vietnam suggested that bird flu might infect people
through the digestive tract. Menno de Jong, a virologist at the Oxford
University Clinical Research Unit in Ho Chi Minh City, told of patients
whose only potential exposures were through the meat and blood of
infected poultry.
De Jong said his patients consumed duck blood and possibly uncooked bird
organs, said Richard Lobb, a spokesman for the Washington-based National
Chicken Council. While reports of possible food-borne transmission have
been rare, his group welcomes research on the topic.
``There have been no cases in which avian influenza has been transmitted
by normally handled raw chicken,'' he said today in a telephone
interview. ``These are all small possibilities, and it sounds like they
want to leave no stone unturned.''
Food Samples
The agency also is working with other state and federal organizations on
plans to sample foods at risk of contamination, the FDA said. The risk
assessment and inspection plans may be finished during the next
government fiscal year, beginning on Oct. 1.
Avian influenza has infected 278 people worldwide, mostly in Asia, and
killed at least 168 of them since late 2003, according to the World
Health Organization. The FDA, responsible for ensuring the safety and
effectiveness of vaccines and drugs to be used during a potential
outbreak, has drafted guidelines to speed the approval of treatments.
The FDA explored standardizing the requirements for clearance of
pandemic vaccines and drugs in meetings last year with the WHO and drug
regulators from other countries. The FDA will also host representatives
from 18 countries at a meeting in May to discuss how to assure
manufacturing practices during a pandemic, Lushniak said. Results of the
regulatory discussions may become available this year, he said.
`Global Perspective'
The goal of the internationalization standards ``is to say to everyone,
`Here's what we want in clinical studies,' so we can utilize them in a
global perspective,'' he said in the interview.
The agency said it also is on the watch for the sale and shipment of
bogus bird flu treatments. FDA has issued at least 50 warning letters to
sellers of unproved medications and intercepted packages containing
supposedly containing generic versions of Roche Holding AG's Tamiflu
antiviral drug. At least one package of the pills contained only vitamin
C, the FDA said.