Crisis and consensus

Crisis and Consensus: Modernizing U.S. Food Safety Law was the title for the testimony delivered by Caroline Smith DeWaal, director of food safety for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, yesterday to the House Appropriations subcommittee on Agriculture and the FDA. I put the pdf of her speech in the Fresh Produce Industry Discussion Group here.

Smith DeWaal brings up some interesting comparisons between the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service and the FDA, and the comparisons reflect negatively on FDA. Here's a quote:

"While USDA has a fairly intensive program for ensuring the safety of imported meat and poultry products, the FDA program is anything but comprehensive. FDA's procedures are much less stringent and much less effective." she said. "FDA does not evaluate national programs to determine equivalence or visit foreign countries to verify compliance with food safety procedures.

While 15% of imports under USDA's domain were sampled or inspected, Smith DeWaal said FDA inspects only 1%.

In the end, Smith DeWaal nods to introduction of bills on Capitol Hill that seek to retool the FDA, including the Food and Drug Import Safety Act of 2007 and Imported Food Security Act of 2007. Those bills, introduced in the House and the Senate respectively, direct FDA to create and implement more rigorous controls and create a user fee program to expand import inspections.

While praising aspects of those bills, Smith DeWaal predictably calls for passage of the Safe Food Act and creation of a single food safety agency.

What Smith DeWaal is saying has appeal to U.S. growers who may feel that FDA's oversight of produce imports is less then robust.