Despite Food Scares, FDA Cuts Inspections

Former Bush Official Among Critics Who Charge Cuts Threaten Public

(AP)  The shrunken ranks of inspectors have left the nation once again vulnerable, especially to problems in imported food, Thompson and others said. Doyle, whose center studies ways to improve food safety, called the nation's growing appetite for imported foods the "coming threat."

The United States last year imported about $10 billion more in food, feed and beverages than it exported, according to Census figures. Even as imports grow in volume and diversity, the number of FDA inspections is shrinking: agency inspectors physically examined just 1.3 percent of food imports last year, about three-quarters as much as in 2003.

The FDA, meanwhile, says it is concentrating its efforts on areas where the potential threat to the public's health is greatest.

"We're applying resources to targeted areas. So in a way, it's not a matter of 'Are you inspecting one out of 100 or 10 out of 100?' The real issue is if you can define risk. Are you applying the 10 inspectors to the 10 areas of concern? Then it's essentially you're covering 100 percent of your problem, which is not covering 100 percent of the universe," FDA commissioner Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach said.

FDA inspectors, for example, visited the ConAgra plant on Feb. 14, a day after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told the agency it suspected the company's peanut butter was the source of the outbreak.

For one member of Congress, that's not good enough.

"We are reacting to crises rather than preventing or minimizing them," said Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., chairwoman of the House subcommittee that oversees the FDA and its budget. DeLauro said she worried food inspections were becoming a "stepchild" of the regulatory agency.

Von Eschenbach said the agency's food safety system can be reactive but is aggressive nonetheless.

"What you saw with the spinach and certainly what you saw with the peanut butter, is when we see those signals we're going to act to protect the public health," von Eschenbach said.

In the meantime, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce is investigating the adequacy of the FDA's efforts to protect the nation's food supply, Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., said.

A recent Government Accountability Office report noted that most of the $1.7 billion the federal government allocates to food safety goes to the Agriculture Department, which is responsible for regulating about 20 percent of the food supply. The FDA, responsible for most of the other 80 percent, gets about 24 percent of the total.

When the FDA finds violations with a food product, it asks companies to voluntarily fix any problems. The agency also can request a company to recall a product or it can ask that a product be seized by law enforcement.

The Agriculture Department said this month it also would switch to a "risk-based" inspection plan for plants that process poultry, pork and beef.

Plants that make products with a high risk for contamination, like hamburger, and that have had past violations would face greater scrutiny. Others than make less risky products, like cooked, canned ham, and have clean records would be inspected less.

[foodmicrogrl]

Current FDA leadership also plans on closing more than half of its regulatory labs involved in ensuring food safety. Just 6 labs will be left to analyze the ever increasing numbers of imported foods. This is the number of labs FDA had back in 1908 when the U.S. had fewer people and little imported food!Food safety is taking a large step back to the days of Upton Sinclair's
"The Jungle". If you care about your food being safe,write your Congressmen to stop this Commissioner from gutting FDA.

[moosbrth]

Another "What is right with my Country!"

[mnelsonix]

Did y'all see the rats in NY Taco Bell the day after an inpection? Nice. I need to go on a diet anyway...

[oleander8]

They cut the food safety programs, but I'll bet they buy in to the airport security machines that show you all but naked.

[olebd]

Kings (like Bush) have always been insulated from tainted food because they have a team of food tasters to protect them. He would never cut funding for his team of food tasters. As a matter of fact, they are guaranteed a healthy raise every year, full benefits and after 25 years of service, they can retire with a full pension.

The rest of us have to either grow our own food or stop eating.

[afmca]

Hey if you cut health care to children and health inspections for food - you eventually get less people needing to take taxes from Bush's rich friends.

[formrusmcsgt]

NEVER will we elect a Southern Fascist who's nothing but a Puppet of Corporations. You know who these people are and NO RELIGIOUS Group should be able to tell you otherwise.
Posted by skyk at 07:39 AM : Feb 27, 2007

Good morning, skyk.

As I often say, the neocons themselves have done more to ensure the death of their ideology than the Dems ever could have.

It has been exposed as a dangerous and bogus ideology both domestically and abroad and the ramifications from it will have to be dealt with for many years to come by all of us.

[skyk-2009]

How far we have fallen in just a few short years. We had the money to fund all these things that we need so badly. We had a nation on the rise and feeling really good about ourselves again. To actually hear American's dreaming again, do any of you REMEMBER the "Lock Box" Al Gore talked about for Social Security in the debates with Sir Lies-A-Lot? Yeah that's right we had our house in order so well the canidates were debating what to fix and how to fix it. We the People have made some REALLY Stupid Mistakes in our history but this one, by far, is the Worst. IF we servive the next two years let's make a PROMISE to each other. NEVER will we elect a Southern Fascist who's nothing but a Puppet of Corporations. You know who these people are and NO RELIGIOUS Group should be able to tell you otherwise.

[formrusmcsgt]

Safety tests for U.S.-produced food have dropped nearly 75 percent, from 9,748 in 2003 to 2,455 last year, according to the agency's own statistics.

Hey, the money for the boondoggle has to come from somwhere, eh?

We eat tainted food so Dubya can chase his windmills in Iraq......

[luckygirl042]

Hummm...10.6 million for food safety, but billions and billions for Iraq? Homeland Security does not think our food is a target? I must have missed something.

[long_rider]

1. What terrorist threat? There is no terrorist threat in America, well, except from the White house.

2. The chimps appointees to the FDA are taking good care of us, trust me on this one. Ha! Ha!

3. This does not support the chimps war efforts, or make Halliburton any richer. So why spend money on it?

4. Another prime example of our government wanting to help it's citizens.

[frankly6]

This is what happens when take federal agencies that are charged with protecting the American people and fill them with former lobyists from the very industries they are supposed to be protecting us from. Bush and Co. have done this with the FDA and the EPA. As for FEMA and Homeland Security, he's just filled those agencies up with cronies who have little or no experience.