Experts Warn of Future Contaminations in Food Supply
Posted on: Thursday, 19 February 2009, 09:23 CST
A panel of experts is warning that it's inevitable there will be future cases of contamination in our food supply if governments don't take more steps to protect the foods we consume.
Researchers at Michigan State University said as worldwide demand for inexpensive products increases, there is no doubt that there will be future repeats of intentionally contaminated foods and counterfeiting from overseas. Recent examples of counterfeiting or contamination include the tainted milk supply that killed several Chinese children and sickened 30,000; conventionally grown vegetables sold as organic; catfish containing banned antibiotics; and toothpaste contaminated with diethylene glycol, a base chemical in antifreeze.
"Products are moving around the world so fast now that there's more opportunity for fraud," John Spink, an instructor at the National Food Safety and Toxicology Center and director of the Packaging for Food and Product Protection initiative, was quoted as saying. "When food was distributed more regionally, there was less potential for large-scale fraud or outbreaks of any kind."
The researchers said nobody can guarantee safe food, but governments need to improve controls by promoting increased corporate responsibility, identifying vulnerabilities in the food supply and assessing risks.
The experts are urging governments to increase risk-based inspections and samples; improve the detection of food system signals that indicate contamination; improve immediate response to contamination events and improve risk communications.
Currently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration inspects less than 2 percent of the food coming into this country even though 13 percent of America's food is imported.
SOURCE: Presented at a symposium on the safety of imported food on Feb. 16, 2009 at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting in Chicago
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Source: Ivanhoe
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