Food Safety System Filled with Gaps and Overlaps

An estimated 76 million Americans get sick from foodborne illnesses every year, with at least 325,000 getting sick enough to end up in the hospital. The number of salmonella cases for one strain last year was one-third higher than a decade ago.

"It's so frustrating to know that nothing ever gets done," said Jeff Almer. Almer's mother died two years ago after getting salmonella poisoning from peanut butter.

"To find out that it was something that could have been prevented, you feel cheated, you feel angry," Almer said.

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The bewildering food safety system is filled with gaps and overlaps. CBS News chief investigative correspondent Armen Keteyian reports 15 federal agencies spend more than $2 billion annually to enforce at least 30 different laws. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) oversees meat and poultry. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) oversees everything else.

"No one bears any responsibility when things go bad," Almer said.

At a local grocery store aisle, one can see how different agencies are in charge of different items. There's a can of beef broth, made in a plant. It's regulated by the USDA - which has daily inspections. Meanwhile, a can of chicken broth is regulated by the FDA and only inspects once every five years.

In the frozen food aisle, the cheese pizza is regulated by the FDA. The pepperoni pizza is regulated by the USDA.

Fish is regulated by the FDA, except for catfish - which is under the USDA.

The USDA seal on a carton of eggs doesn't mean they're safe - it just means they were checked for size and shape.

The result? Contaminated spinach from California, and contaminated peanuts from Georgia. Last month, eggs from Iowa sickened more than 1,600 people.

"Multiple agencies are just pointing fingers at each other, rather than providing consumer protection," said Caroline Smith Dewaal, of the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

Here's how that protection failed in Iowa. The FDA was supposed to inspect the hen houses -- but never did. Fifty feet away, the USDA inspected the packing facility every day- but was not allowed inside the hen house where investigators later discovered an 8-foot pile of manure outside.

The USDA refused to speak with CBS News on camera. But in a statement said, "this incident exemplifies the critical need to make significant improvements in the food safety system."

A bill to overhaul the entire food safety system has been held up by partisan bickering in the Senate for over a year.

"People's lives hang in the balance on this bill," Almer said.

Questions about the safety of what we eat only grow.

[AOYP]

Samonella, ecoli and 99%+ of bacteria are easily killed if sprayed or dunked into a 2.5pH or less water for 30 seconds. The Japanese have been sterilizing hospital rooms,floors,surgical instruments and surgeons hands for 36 years with it! American hotels and 36,000 Japanese restaurants and bars are going green by ending bleach and ammonia and are now using these machines while improving food taste and stopping herbicides and pesticides while emulsifing oil! I have the story of a Santa Monica hotel that paid $12,000 for a overpriced model without the highest quality drinking water as they paid $3500 a month for bleach and ammonia! If you need a copy I have it. The best commercial machine making this water costs about $5980 and can be seen at www.Natural.H2origin.com and my email and phone and health story are there also.

[stn_sage]

The Dept of Agriculture and FDA are a disgrace!
And from the failure of both departments to inspect, regulate, and ensure the safety of the food system, I can only conclude, that there's a clandestine intent to actually HARM the public!

WHICH, they ARE succeeding at!

[michaelm07]

If the FDA wasn't so busy telling us what to eat, instead of doing their job of making sure the stuff we eat is meeting the standards they supposedly set and enforce, the food chain would indeed be safer. Instead of poking their noses into my fridge and what I like, just do their jobs - something the Feds increasingly fail to do on all levels.

Additionally, family farms are being squeezed and corporate entities are doing things regionally, nationally and globally. There is no way you can safely or effectively regulate or monitor such huge opoerations. When you have but a few distributors of let's say spinach and there is an ecoli outbreak it affects a huge part of the market; kitchens, cafeterias, restaurants, etc..

There is only one answer and that is to get back to buying your foods locally when possible or in worst case, regionally. It might be a bit more expensive but family farms actually care about what they produce instead of an assembly line mindset like the corporates. The corporates also depress prices that in-turn push smaller and dedicated farmers out of business.

Look at what the FDA is doing with supplements. Big Pharma wants a piece of that market so bad they can taste it and so you've got their shills like Henry Waxman and John McCain wanting to regulate and squeeze supplements for the sake of "public safety", HA! How MANY Big Pharma drugs have been pulled from shelves after they have killed and caused health damage to patients? Listen to all the disclaimers on a TV commercials. The FDA is nothing but a willing flunky for Big Pharma and Corporate foods.

[baileyccc]

This is exactly how the food corporations want it. It's just like Big Pharma running all over the FDA. Follow the money. posted by baileyccc

[dwiseriver]

Looks like another problem as the result of hiring people who don't understand cleanleness. Most likely illegal immigrants. Hire US citizens and you will need less inspection and quality control.

[trustyourself1]

I was applauding this entire story until the end where you threw in the bill that's being held up in the Senate. True, and that's exactly what should be happening. Unbeknownst to Joe Q Public, the bill that's being held up does nothing to regulate Big Agriculture, what it does is introduce measures that will require the small (dare I say it) ORGANIC farms to purchase more costly, complex and larger farming equipment that would essentially put them out of business financially. The same equipment that the larger farms already use and can easily afford would be required in the smaller farms as well. We saw how effectively those large farms are using the equipment, yet that's the business model the bill seeks to employ. Oh, and the current bill that's supposed to address the short-comings of the original does nothing but slip in a few extra perks for Big Agriculture (who do you think bankrolls the FDA)? Thanks CBS for a potentially great story. I grade it a B- for showing how filthy our food supply is and for calling out the bureaucrats.

[newsbarn]

yup buy american! our companies really care about quality! hahahahaha

[cleantheDCcesspool]

I suppose having someone inspect foor is a great idea. And I suppose it has to be a government agency to do it. But can't the gov ever do it correctly -- just once?

Show me an efficient gov agency, or even one that gets the job done correctly and using common sense, please.

We could do with less sprawling gov agencies not doing the job they are funded by taxpayer money to do.

The Dep't of Energy was created in 1977 to reduce America's dependence on foreign oil, and to develop alternatives. How is that working out? And they suck up billions of bucks each year. There are hundreds of thousands of bureaucrats under that one department.

And obamacare is going to create a whole lot more agencies and bureaus. How is that going to work out for taxpayers?

[dwiseriver]

I don't think the Government is supposed to be effective. I have never heard of Government Agencies being efficiant. I suppose that is why I hate to see more Government. Gov. Health care Ha! It won't work. When I see an artical slamming the way some Gov programs work, a sence of calm comes over me as I know all is well in the universe.