Sarah Schacht’s Post

I’m happy to share that I’m starting a new position as Senior Fellow at Data Foundation!

When is food a crime? You might be surprised. Bloomberg Legal news posted a story today documenting FDA's report citing a new food "adulterant" as criminal offense--but the FDA may or may not prosecute food companies who've used this ingredient. As a food safety advocate and victim of this literal food crime, I'm interested in seeing justice served. See Bloomberg's paywall-free article here: https://lnkd.in/gKpAi7jD In 2013/2014, after experiencing the second E. coli outbreak in my life, I dedicated my efforts to advocating for posted restaurant inspection scores and a modernized inspection database in the Seattle area (King County). Initiatives like this led to a 30% reduction in foodborne illnesses and related death rates, in cities like Toronto. Through community organizing, earned media, and legislative engagement, King County, Washington, successfully launched posted scores, inspiring similar programs in other counties in the state. My work even caught the attention of the FDA, using my survival story to teach empathy to food handlers. This type of “food poisoning” is not, usually, criminal. Last month, the FDA declared tara seed, a toxic ingredient in Daily Harvest’s meals, an adulterant, making its use in food a crime due to its non-generally recognized as safe (non-GRAS) status. I was one of over 400 known Daily Harvest’s victims who experienced the health consequences of consuming tara seed-laced products. I now find myself advocating for justice for over 400 known victims. Despite the FDA declaration, the agency’s decision to prosecute Daily Harvest and their importer, Smirk's LTD remains uncertain. I find myself as both a food safety advocate and civic tech professional, trying to advocate for justice for tara seed victims. It’s an entirely new sector of government to me. I’ve been able to learn a lot from my network over the years. I’m looking to engage media, congressional members, the FDA and Justice Department on why victims of tara seed deserve to see the companies responsible held accountable. Like posted restaurant inspection scores, a criminal prosecution of Smirks and Daily Harvest could send a message to food companies to improve safety practices. If you have an idea, media contact I should talk to, or advocacy recommendation, I want to hear from you! An in depth look at the case from Bloomberg Law: https://lnkd.in/gKpAi7jD

This week's FEDmanager newsletter published results from my report on six years of innovation fellowship career trends! Read a succinct summary of the report findings, recommendations here:

Next week, I'm sharing a report I worked on while a fellow at Beeck Center, on covid data and the potential to create shared schemas (standards) across US jurisdictions. The work began when I got pulled into the Covid Tracking Project, where I quickly realized covid data advocates wanted far more data than the 3,000+ decentralized public health agencies could provide---and that it would be an impossible task for these agencies to meet the request for so many fields of data. With the help of four University of Washington informatics capstone students, and Sasha Anderson, their capstone advisor, we completed a review of 50 states covid data, their database tools, and interviewed 25 jurisdictions public health data managers--much of them off the record or anonymized. Unfortunately, there weren't the communications resources at the time at Beeck, and a completed report sat in a Google drive as I moved onto a new job and navigated a major health event. With a bit of time to revisit the piece, I'm planning to publish the report next week. I hope it will be useful context in emerging conversations about avian flu tracking in humans and animals. If you'd like to be the first to receive the report, go to my website and request my report on government innovation fellowships--everyone on that list will be the first to receive the covid data report next week! https://lnkd.in/g8sCK68w Below, an executive summary from the report. #PublicInterestTech #CivicTech #PublicHealth