PUBLIC HEALTH


Keeping food safe New law helps DSHS track bad food sources


Charles Lerner, MD, visits Pearl Farmers’ Market in San Antonio. He explains that new legislation requires farmers’ markets in counties with more than 50,000 people to obtain temporary food establishment permits. The regulation is part of an effort to ensure Texas’ food supply is safe.


“Physicians are a BY CRYSTAL CONDE


very important link for us to find food- borne illnesses.”


In 2008, more than 500 Texans became ill in an outbreak of


Salmonella Saintpaul traced to peppers. In the midst of the food-borne illness erup- tion that infected 1,442 people in 43 states, the District of Columbia, and Canada, the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) had to rely on restaurants to tell them where they purchased their peppers. DSHS Commissioner David Lakey, MD, says that’s because the department didn’t


November 2011 TEXAS MEDICINE 25


JODY HORTON


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