U.S. Food Safety: The Import Alarm Keep...(the hinterlands of China Hubbard said. ...),Health

China has reacted recently to international pressure by signaling that it is ready to tighten food safety standards. In December, the United States and China signed an agreement that places new registration and inspection requirements on 10 food products exported by Chinese companies. The products include some preserved foods, pet foods and farm-raised fish, all of which have come under suspicion of being tainted.

Those types of market reactions may help fix things in countries of origin such as China, experts say, but weaknesses remain here at home.

Topping the list: a chronic underfunding of FDA inspection services, according to critics. "If you look at the Bush Administration's fiscal year 2007 budget proposal, the Produce Safety and other food programs are going to be cut by $22.6 million from 2006 levels, and the staffing would be reduced by 105 full-time employees," Doyle noted.

One private industry food safety inspector, Ed Sherwin, said he doesn't blame management or workers at the FDA for what he considers to be poor oversight of imported foods.

"What I've found is that the federal inspectors from FDA and USDA are excellent in their work, but they are understaffed and overworked," Sherwin testified at a special Congressional hearing on the issue in October. In the meantime, "profits take priority over food safety," Sherwin said. "Food service operators tend to rely on their suppliers to provide the products that best meet their needs at the lowest price. Operators don't care if the crabmeat is from Maryland or Malaysia, the grapes are from California or Chile."

Lack of 'Traceability'

Inspections at the border and ports of entry can help spot trouble, but experts say the FDA currently has full-time inspect
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