In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the FDA took a major step in advancing the prevention of Shiga toxin producing E. coli or STEC. The FDA released the 2020 Leafy Greens STEC Action Plan. It is an outlined plan to advance the safety of leafy greens. It has three main focuses to advance work in prevention, response and addressing knowledge gaps.
Leafy green are essential to a well balanced diet, yet they are major carriers for STEC. Between 2018 and 2019 there were 40 STEC infection outbreaks linked to leafy greens in the US. STEC is spread fecally-orally and then the feces can infect surfaces, food and. water. A focus of the 2020 Leafy Greens STEC Action Plan is educating the industry on the important of agricultural water quality as well as the impact of potential use of adjacent land. If infected water is used to water the greens then they can become infected with STEC. This can lead to outbreaks unknowingly. By further observing water and soil quality and improving testing techniques the amount of STEC outbreaks can be minimized. The FDA is working to further understand the pathogenies of STEC within the environment to work to prevent the indirect spread of the pathogen. The initial initiatives are focused in primary leafy greens growing regions such as Yuma, Arizona.
It is important that the prevention and research of other diseases is still prevalent amongst the COVID-19 pandemic. Often time and resources for legislation is pushed to the side to work through world crisis. I was surprised to see how recent the FDA passed this Act especially in the midst of approval for vaccines and tests for COVID-19. This shows the importance of departments within federal agencies, research corporations, and the health care industry this allows for life to continue on as much as it can. It allows for other equally as important and possibly more deadly diseases to still be researched and worked further on.
The Good, The Bad, The Microbiome 