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January 28, 2009 at 11:47 am
Let the lawsuits begin! There’s already been 1 filed. In this case, they are deserved.
January 28, 2009 at 3:58 pm
One of the problems is that USDA is responsible for some food safety inspections and FDA is responsible for others. USDA is responsible for inspecting the commercial supply of meat (except fish), poultry, and egg products. The FDA is responsible for everything else. They also share responsibility with various state agencies and attempt to work cooperatively (thus spreading around the limited personnel and making maximum use of the funds). Neither the USDA nor the FDA has the personnel or funds to do a complete job. It is both impractical and cost prohibitive to have an inspector on-hand at every food processing facility in the country. The system relies on some self-regulation and self-inspection. There are substantial penalties for companies who cover-up problems or falsify tests. If you take enough tests, eventually you’ll get the answer you want. There are fines and the threat of shutting down plants and facilities, but people make the wrong decision.It is not a foolproof system.
If you want to learn just how daunting a task it is trying to keep our food supply safe, do a search on E. coli and lettuce. There have been several outbreaks of E. coli related illnesses associated with California grown leafy greens. There is a specific initiative to attempt to find the cause and solution to the leafy greens contamination. It’s been going on since 2004, thus far without success.
Our food supply is also vulnerable to intentional contamination. Sleep well…
January 28, 2009 at 4:19 pm
I certainly won’t minimize the vastness of the task. I also have known enough Federal employees that I know that almost all of them, like everyone else, wants to do a good job.
Persons do not get up in the morning and say, “I’m gonna go to work so I can really screw something up today.”
The issue is that the Repulsicans have continually decreased enforcement resources:
January 28, 2009 at 4:54 pm
There have been isolated problems with food safety for years. There simply are not enough inspectors (or money) to cover every plant or facility. There is a possibility that the actions of Peanut Corporation of America were not just stupid, but criminal. In this case, it may have more to do with a willful wrongful act than lack of oversight and/or enforcement.