The legislature placed the Office within the Director's Office, and created a Minority Health Advisory Committee, whose membership consists of minority group representatives. The frequency of foodborne illness is lower than ever, one of the silent success stories of modern public health. The fourteen inspectors and the support staff in the Office of Food Protection maintain responsibility for assuring the safety of food for all of Rhode Island's one million consumers. The Office regulates over 8,000 food establishments. Food operations inspected by this office range from the markets where you buy your food, to restaurants, street vendors, schools, health care facilities, hospitals, dairy plants and farms producing your food, to the food processors that prepare food for markets and food service operations.
Several trends make protecting our food supply from old and emerging pathogens a growing challenge.
Americans are consuming more foods imported from Third World countries. Cyclospora in Guatemalan raspberries, Hepatitis A in strawberries, listeria in hommus, salmonella in bean sprouts, shigella in parsley, E. coli in hamburger and apple juice, are all recent threats to health. The consequences range from abortions to death and permanent kidney damage in children. Eating habits have changed. Americans spend 52 percent of the food dollar eating away from home, compared to 42 percent in the 1980s.