DeLauro : FDA apathetic about traceability

Traceability is a fast-rising issue; from Rep. DeLauro on July 1:

Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro (CT-3) issued the following statement regarding the Food and Drug Administration’s on-going investigation into the cause of the current salmonella outbreak, in which over 850 people in 36 states and Washington, D.C. have been sickened by the rare Saintpaul strain.

“Nearly three months into this investigation, new cases of salmonella continue to be diagnosed – some of whom fell ill less than two weeks ago; consumer confidence further erodes; and the food industry faces estimated costs of at least $100 million. Given the FDA’s difficulty in pinpointing the source of this salmonella outbreak, including new questions as to whether tomatoes are the culprit, it is troublesome that the agency has yet to implement a traceability system.

“Despite holding public meetings/workshops on traceability last year and the availability of the technology, the FDA has taken no other action.  In fact, the agency is even ignoring calls from the produce industry for the adoption of such a system.

“Had the agency put in place a traceability system, the FDA may have been able to rule out tomatoes sooner and moved on to something else if in fact tomatoes are not the culprit – sparing consumers and tomato growers a lot of harm. The FDA must heed the warning implicit in this recall and immediately implement a traceability system to help prevent this from happening again.”