FDA Issues One-Year Progress Report on Food Protection Plan
FDA this week released a progress report on the Food Protection Plan launched in November 2007 to address “both food safety and food defense for domestic and imported products.” The report states that federal regulators are “working collaboratively across the agency to implement the three-core elements of protection: prevention, intervention and response.” It particularly notes that FDA has (i) established offices in China and India, with the intention of expanding its presence in Europe, Latin America and the Middle East; (ii) developed melamine and cyanuric acid testing for animal feed; (iii) developed rapid detection methods for E. coli and Salmonella; (iv) enhanced its ability to track foodborne illness outbreaks; (v) signed cooperative agreements with six states to form rapid response teams to handle emergencies; and (vi) approved the use of irradiation for iceberg lettuce and spinach. FDA also inspected 5,930 high-risk domestic food
establishments in fiscal year 2008 and plans to hire 130 additional employees to carry out further safety assessments. “The goal is to radically redesign the process,” said FDA Associate Commissioner for Foods David Acheson. “We cannot simply rely on picking the ball up at the point of entry.” See The New York Times, December 1, 2008; Meatingplace.com, December 2, 2008.
Meanwhile, FDA has drawn criticism from the Government Accountability Office and some public interest groups for its slowness in enacting the Food Protection Plan. According to Consumers Union, the recent sale of melamine-tainted infant formula in the United States is evidence that the agency “needs a complete overhaul” to address systemic problems. U.S. Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) has also called for a single federal agency to oversee the entire food and agricultural supply. “It’s got to be totally redone,” she was quoted as saying. “It needs
resources; it needs better management; it needs less influence from the industry and more influence on the science.” See Food Navigator USA.com, December 2, 2008.
