Obama warns of US food 'hazard' (BBC) {more funding, inspectors}

[eppur_se_muova]

President Barack Obama has said the US food safety system is a "public health hazard" and in need of an overhaul.

He sounded the warning during his weekly radio and video address, as he appointed a new head of the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

New York Health Commissioner Margaret Hamburg has been named for the post.

Mr Obama cited a string of recent food safety scandals including a salmonella outbreak in peanut products this year that has been linked to nine deaths.

The president said recent underfunding and understaffing at the FDA had left the agency unable to conduct annual inspections of more than a fraction of America's 150,000 food processing premises.
***
more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7943560.stm






I also heard on the radio (NPR) that he explicitly called for more federal inspectors. Bu**sh**, of course, was starving the FDA, just like all oversight and enforcement agencies.

[Fleshdancer]

1. GOOD

This is long overdue.

It's amazing how many things Obama has to fix. I don't know about you, but by the last year or two of Bush's presidency, I was on scandal overload. The amount of things he managed to screw up is mind boggling.

[skooooo]

2. No kidding..

This country is just about in meltdown. Obama's steady influence will start to make some of these stupid scandals go away.

[Lars39]

3. I want them to also make sure utensils, plates, pans, etc are safe, too.

I'm tired of worrying about things purchased from China,dammit.

[lotus]

4. Buy American

Some people won't like, but we should try as much as possible to buy American, especially if it is something we need to put in ourselves. Not just for safety, but also for sustainability. Any society should be able to produce most of what it requires locally. If too many of the necessities are imported, that puts the society in a dangerous situation should those supply lines of goods become interrupted for some reason. Plus, it contributes to carbon emissions to have all that oil being burned to power the ships to bring the goods from far away.

My grocery store recently started putting clear labels in the produce section that say where everything comes from, and I much appreciate that. If it says from USA or Canada, I buy it. Otherwise, I hesitate. It is really hard to inspect stuff that comes from other countries when they aren't doing adequate inspections in that other country to begin with.

[Nikia]

5. As a food processing professional, I say that it's about time

Although I don't believe that any of the companies that I have worked for were at major risk of causing a food borne disease outbreak, the attitudes that ownership and top management has bothers me. The state inspector that contracts with the FDA who we have seen doesn't give me much confidence in safe guards either if she spends as little time for her visit at other companies as ours. We have a few customer and "third party" audits, which are tougher. Those auditor seem to go along with the attitude though too that obeying every rule isn't always practical so we get our 90 something percent score and everything is fine in industry's eyes. With all these food borne outbreaks, it makes me think that 90 something percent isn't good enough. Food safety is too important for that. I'd like to think that bigger companies are better, but when I interviewed with a major nationally known company, they shared with me 75% of their plants weren't completely legally compliant including the majority which they had owned for over 10 years. With how things are, I no longer want to be part of the food industry, but with the economy as it is, I can't hope make enough outside of it to avoid being "low income". The older people in the industry tell me that I shouldn't worry about some things, because thing were much worse 25 years ago. That doesn't make me feel any better.

[eppur_se_muova]

6. If you stay in your job, at least we will have one conscientious inspector.

I know it's not much comfort, and you'll never be thanked enough, but those of us who want to keep the stable clean (i.e. progressives) usually end up shoveling the shit ourselves. I think it's that way in just about every occupation. Sometimes doing your job right is the closest you can get to getting even.

[Nikia]

7. It's an ongoing struggle

Now as a 31 year old and recently becoming a mother, I have thought more about my career and if it is what I really want. Despite the poor economy, there have been a few job oppurtunities that I have seen the food industry that might pay a little more, be a little better title, and/or be a little better working environment. I'm not applying to them, though, despite my desire to change my job because it seems that things might not really be better if the whole industry is flawed. Sure, during the interview, they might tell me that quality is their top concern and that they received such high scores on their audits or if they didn't, they are looking for someone to really change that around. It is easy for them to tell an applicant though, just as they tell customers when it might be a bunch of crap.
I suppose that you are right though. We can only do our little bit the best that we can. I hope that things will change for the better though with Obama's plan.