FDA Lacks Resources to Adequately Inspect Food Imports
The FDA is not keeping our food supply safe. Earlier this week, the FDA reacted to hundreds of illnesses and at least 4 deaths linked to fresh spinach by providing more voluntary guidelines for U.S. producers. Our imported produce is even less regulated, and a tight agency budget (and lack of will?) keeps inspection rates low. The FDA only inspects about 1% of the imported foods it regulates, which is everything other than meat and poultry.
William Hubbard,a former FDA associate commissioner who retired in 2005, was quoted as saying, "The FDA has so few resources, all it can do is target high-risk things, give a pass to everything else and hope it is OK. The public probably has the perception … that they're more protected than they really are."
Michael Doyle, head of the Center for Food Safety at the University of Georgia, was cited as saying that more food imports come from developing countries, where pesticide use is often higher than in the USA, water quality is often worse and workers may be less likely to be trained in food safety.
Benjamin England, a former FDA lawyer who works with foreign exporters, was quoted as saying, "There hasn't been a major food-borne illness outbreak from imports for several years, so it's off the radar. But everybody is realizing they cannot ignore this elephant forever."
If you are sickened by imported produce or other products, contact Pritzker | Ruohonen, one of the leading food poisoning litigation law firms in the United States. Please call toll-free at 1-888-377-8900 to learn what to do if you are diagnosed with Salmonella, E. coli, or any other foodborne illness.
Source: Julie Schmidt, “U.S. food imports outrun FDA resources,” USA Today, March 19, 2007.