PEST: Political

On January 4th, 2013, President Obama has signed the law of "Food Safety Modernization Act", these laws give the "Food and Drug Association" more power in order to prevent disease outbreaks such as "Salmonella". These laws dictate that produce such as meat and egg must now be handled in systems that are geared to prevent any type of contamination. Furthermore, if any of the produce has found to be contaminated the information must be immediately relayed to the FDA. The FDA also has the right to conduct lab reports on the foods of restaurants such as McDonalds. Recently, on October 2012 employees from a McDonalds restaurant in Bloomington were found to be diagnosed with salmonella, leading to the McDonalds being shut down. Cases of food poisoning from McDonalds also occur regularly all around America. McDonalds needs to start examining their food (especially meat) sources more carefully and where they come from. These laws, though it may force McDonalds to use part of its profit to reinforce or re-new their hygiene systems all around America, may help rebuild the confidence of consumers in McDonalds.

Links to Article:

http://www.examiner.com/article/new-food-safety-laws-as-of-today

http://foodpoisoning.pritzkerlaw.com/archives/cat-mcdonalds-lawsuit.html