Lawmakers Set To Tackle Growing Food Safety Issues
As more peanut items continue to be added to the list of foods linked to the latest salmonella outbreak, US lawmakers are vowing to create a system of tighter food safety laws and conduct more frequent inspections.
Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, on Thursday referred to the US food safety system as “a hit or miss gamble.”
The committee held a hearing on the outbreak on Thursday.
"To say that food safety in this country is a patchwork system is giving it too much credit,” said Harkin.
President Barack Obama has criticized the US Food and Drug Administration’s handling of food safety in response to the recent outbreak that has killed 8 people and sickened at least 550.
Experts also say the outbreak appears to have reached a record number of recalled food items.
US government officials revealed on Jan. 27, that a Blakely, Ga., peanut-processing plant that produces just 1 percent of U.S. peanut products was responsible for the outbreak.
The Peanut Corp. of America processing plant continued shipping products that had been found to be contaminated with salmonella in 2007 and 2008. The company got a second opinion from another lab and sold the food after the secondary tests came back negative.
"Independent audit and food safety firms also conducted customary unannounced inspections of the Blakely facility in 2008. One gave the plant an overall ‘superior’ rating, and the other rated the plant as ‘meet or exceeds audit expectations (acceptable-excellent)’ ratings," the company said in a statement cited by the AP.
"Under the current regulations and laws, they are not required to share those records with state regulatory authorities or even with the FDA," Oscar Garrison, Georgia’s assistant agriculture commissioner, who oversees the consumer protection division, said in January.
"It’s just basically a loophole that has been there," he said.
That loophole is what the Senate Agriculture Committee is working to close. But it remains to be seen whether or not they can achieve that goal given the current economic climate.
In the Senate, Illinois Democrat Dick Durbin is preparing to reintroduce a bipartisan bill.
In the House, Reps. John Dingell, D-Mich., Diana DeGette, D-Colo., and Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., are pursuing reform bills of their own, said the AP.
All the reform proposals would give the FDA authority to order recalls, which are now voluntary.
Reformers also agree that food processing plants should be required to have a safety plan and document their compliance. And there is widespread agreement that standards for imported foods must be upgraded, according to the AP.
DeLauro’s bill proposes the creation of a new Food Safety Administration as a branch of the Health and Human Services Department.
All proposals will require a substantial sum of additional money, said William Hubbard, a former FDA associate commissioner. He told the AP that Congress must double the FDA’s food safety budget to about $1 billion a year.
It was revealed on Wednesday that the Peanut Corp. of America also owned and operated a Texas plant that had never been inspected by the FDA until the company came under recent speculation.
Although no salmonella was discovered at the Peanut Corp. of America plant in Plainview, news of its under-advised facility have sparked new questions about government’s ability to regulate the nation’s food supply.
State law in Texas states that food manufacturers must undergo routine inspections and be licensed every two years.
The FDA relies on state health inspectors to maintain food safety of plants within its boundaries.
Margaret Glavin, a retired senior FDA official, told AP “there is no reliable database that is regularly updated to aid food inspectors. Some companies are listed multiple times, and others remain on the government’s list even after they go out of business.”
“Among the persons with confirmed, reported dates available, illnesses began between September 14, 2008 and January 8, 2009,” the CDC said in a report.
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