AnalysisFDA faces structural, statutory limits in food inspection
The agency’s form, function, and authority make it inherently incapable of inspecting and guaranteeing safety of U.S. food supply; system in need of a sweeping, profound revamping
Talking about the FDA, critics charge that the FDA’s shortcomings are not only technical, and that suspending the proposal to reduce the number of test labs will not address the more serious underlying issues. The problems extend to the agency’s form, function, and authority. The FDA is charged with protecting 80 percent of the U.S. food supply (fresh fruits, vegetables, bulk ingredients, and many grocery items). Yet it only inspects 1 percent of food imports. Even then, unethical importers game the system, routing products through points of entry to avoid more rigorous inspections. Investigators told members of Congress that fish importers get around mercury standards by submitting younger fish for inspection, then using the approval to import larger fish containing higher levels of the toxin. In San Francisco, FDA inspectors conduct only cursory reviews of imports, devoting about 30 seconds to each shipment as it flashes by on a computer screen.
Even when food is found to be tainted, there is little the FDA can do. Foreign producers are required to abide by U.S. food safety standards, but in most cases (except infant formula), the FDA cannot even order recalls of domestic products. When a company voluntarily takes a product off the market, the FDA has no way of knowing how promptly or thoroughly the recall was conducted. Also, the FDA’s regulations are out of date. Foods were simpler and had fewer added ingredients when the regulations were first devised. Today’s processed foods often carry many ingredients from different sources; critics say the FDA’s regulations are not equal to that challenge.
Overwhelmed by the surge in imported and processed foods, the FDA often relies on producers to police themselves. Although it does contract with private testing laboratories, the agency has no system for certifying or regulating labs to ensure they’re reliable. Finally, the whole federal system for food safety is fragmented among fifteen different agencies enforcing as many as thirty laws. The resulting regulatory system is inconsistent, poorly coordinated, and inefficient. It is a system in need of a sweeping, profound revamping, not a rearrangement of deck chairs.
