FDA Faulted for Lack of Produce Oversight
Sept. 30 -- FRIDAY, Sept. 26 (HealthDay News) -- As food-safety problems continue to rock the United States, resulting in massive recalls, illness and even death, the federal Food and Drug Administration remains underfunded and understaffed to protect consumers, a new government report concludes.
The report, released Friday by the Congressional General Accountability Office (GAO), found that the FDA lacks the inspectors, staffers and scientists to safeguard the food supply, particularly fresh produce.
For instance, problems were detected at 41 percent of 2,002 produce plants inspected by the FDA between 2000 and 2007. Yet, in most cases, the agency relied on the plant owners to voluntarily correct the problems, according to the report.
In addition, only 1 percent of produce imported into the United States is inspected by the FDA. This, despite the fact that 60 percent of fresh fruits and vegetables are imported each year.
One in four Americans becomes sick from tainted food each year -- 76 million people. Earlier this year, the largest outbreak of food-borne illness in the past decade was linked to jalapeno and serrano peppers grown at two farms in Mexico. The outbreak sickened 1,442 people, hospitalized 286, and was implicated in two deaths between April and August.
The GAO report also found that, while the FDA has considered fresh produce safety a priority for many years, limited resources and other demands -- such as counterterrorism efforts -- have caused the agency to delay key produce safety activities. The FDA has "no formal program devoted exclusively to fresh produce and has not consistently and reliably tracked its fresh produce spending. Based on FDA estimates, FDA spent at least $20 million and 130 staff years on fresh produce in fiscal year 2007 -- or about 3 percent of its food safety dollars and 4 percent of its food safety staff years," the report said.
In addition, the report said, the FDA has had to "delay issuing final fresh-cut produce guidance at least six years because it had to shift staff to counterterrorism" and investigating outbreaks of food-borne illness.
Related Stories
ABC News Live