The recent salmonella outbreaks in peanuts and pistachios may have been wake-up calls to the public about the dangers of food-borne illness, but U.S. agencies that measure food safety have seen how “progress has plateaued” in government efforts to combat contamination of U.S. food supply.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has released its annual assessment of food safety, in a joint report coordinated between the CDC, Food and Drug Administration, U.S. Department of Agriculture and 10 U.S. states which provide sample data for the report.  According to Robert Tauxe, the CDC’s deputy director for the Division of Foodborne, Bacterial and Mycotic Disease; these results indicate that:

“‘We need greater effort at all stages of movement of food in the food chain from farm to table’ to prevent bacterial contamination.”

The New York Times reports how comments by Tauxe during the release of the report might stoke tensions between the FDA and USDA related to the effectiveness of each agency in improving food safety.

The Los Angeles Times discusses the importance that the CDC report will have on legislation already on the table in Congress to overhaul food safety regulation in the United States.

The full CDC report can be found in the April 10, 2009 edition of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

UPDATE 4/10/09: The Peanut Corporation plant in Texas fined for conditions that contributed to the salmonella outbreak in the company’s peanuts.

On the heels of the Peanut Corporation of America’s president Stewart Parnell’s refusal to testify before Congress, the company filed for bankruptcy.  The Washington Post takes a look at the “rise and fall” of the troubled company.  Forward Foods LLC also filed for bankruptcy as a result of revenues lost after it recalled its Detour energy bar, which contained peanuts supplied by Peanut Corporation.  The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that Slim Fast is recalling three of its bars for the same reason.

A recent AP story relates how the peanut contamination scare has hurt the entire peanut industry.

Find out more about the recall and which products are considered safe by visiting the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Peanut Butter and other Peanut Containing Products Recall List website.