Is our food safe?

Jennifer Moore

Contributor

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Officials from the Food and Drug Administration came under heat yesterday during testimony before Congress over concerns of food safety. House members expressed doubts over the food-safety procedures at the FDA, especially given the recent scares involving tainted food, as well as other imported products such as toothpaste and tires. Because more and more food is being imported from countries such as China, the FDA needs to increase its efforts to make sure imported food is safe for consumers.

Acknowledging the challenge it faces, the FDA said it is working on a plan to improve its system of ensuring food safety. The FDA must change "rapidly and radically" to keep up with the increasing amount of imported food, Commissioner Andrew C. von Eschenbach told the subcommittee.

With concern mounting because of recent incidents involving not only tainted food but also toothpaste, tires and other products from China, a White House official said the administration is forming a panel on import safety to be chaired by Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt that will include other Cabinet officers.
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The FDA inspects less than 1 percent of the imported food it is responsible for monitoring -- including seafood, fruits and vegetables -- and only a small fraction of those inspections include taking samples of products for testing, subcommittee investigators found. In San Francisco, FDA employees who review hundreds of shipments a day have an average of 30 seconds to decide whether each needs further investigation, according to subcommittee investigators.

Hopefully, Congress will provide the necessary budget to the FDA to make sure our food is safe for all consumers.

For more information on this subject matter, please check our section on Defective and Dangerous Products.http://www.injuryboard.com/view.cfm/Topic=30