^Portiani* (fibserucr
lune 22, 2011
Page 9
America Shouldn’t Scrimp on Food Safety
System already
lacks adequate
resources
by
American diet is imported, in­
cluding half our fruit and the vast
majority of our fish — and this
stream of foreign-sourced food
is rapidly escalating.
But federal officials
only inspect about 2 per­
cent of imported food,
and virtually none o f the
roughly 240,000 foreign
food facilities that manu­
facture, process, pack, or
hold food for export to the U.S.
A seemingly simple solution
for consumers would be to avoid
eating imported foods, but that's
harder than you would think.
Even if you wanted to, reading
food labels is no sure way to
discover a product's country of
origin.
Processed foods often include
imported as well as domestic
ingredients, without any coun-
try-of-origin labeling require­
ment. Hence, most consumers
don't know when they're con­
suming an imported food.
Furthermore, threats to food
safety usually aren't random.
Some countries lack the neces­
A manda H itt
A m e ric a n s are
becoming too famil­
iar with im ported
foodborne illnesses.
R e m em b er the
tainted dog food from China and
those salmonella-laced hot pep­
pers shipped from Mexico? Now
a virulent strain of E. coli is
racing across Europe, possibly
heading toward our shores.
We're not ready for this new
strain, if it comes to that. The
government bulkhead required
to keep it out is weak.
As the threat of the European
outbreak looms, consumers may
find it hard to believe that U.S.
officials aren't inspecting much
of anything, let alone testing veg­
etable imports for E. coli.
According to the Food and
Drug Administration, approxi­
mately 15 to 20 percent of the
sary regulatory infrastructure to
ensure proper facility upkeep.
That was the case in 2007, when
m e lam in e, a N itro g e n -ric h
chemical usually used to make
fertilizer and plastics, tainted vast
quantities of dog food imported
from China. Also there’s threats
o f bioterrorism that constantly
loom.
Luckily, as food globalization
and the international outsourcing
o f goods and services become
increasingly common, laws gov­
erning food imports can evolve.
Lawmakers clearly consid­
ered the growth of imported food
in the recently passed Food
Safety Modernization Act — a
pillar of which was making our
food safer. However, since that
law's passage, C ongress has
placed a stranglehold on all food
agency budgets.
In an unfortunate Faustian
compromise, Congress has opted
to save on immediate costs by
underfunding food import safety,
at the risk of costly and prevent­
able foodborne illness.
The FDA is anticipating such
a tight budget that it's turning to
Federal budget cuts aren't the
the Walmart model to address only worry. State governments
this problem. Pending the bud­ pick up some of the slack for the
get to do so, the agency plans to Department of Agriculture and
hire hundreds of third-party cer­ the FDA, often serving as the
tifiers to inspect overseas food front line in identifying the source
facilities, including Bureau of foodborne illness.
Veritas, a French company that
The Minnesota Public Health
currently advises Walmart on D e p a rtm e n t, fo r e x a m p le ,
how to comply with U.S. safety cracked the case on two of the
standards.
largest food recalls in history
Perhaps this particular rela­ when it fingered peppers and
tionship might be better left un­ peanuts as the culprits respon­
funded. The FDA shouldn't take sible for large-scale E. coli and
any safety advice from an orga­ Salmonella outbreaks.
nization that sets its food safety
Unfortunately, cuts in the bud­
standards for the purposes of gets for state public health agen­
com petitive advantage rather cies are putting an even greater
than customer safety.
strain on a system that already
Let's not forget about the do­ lacks adequate resources to
mestic budget cuts threatening monitor food safety.
meat and poultry safety. A re­
Politicians are jum ping on the
duced USDA budget means less "fiscal responsibility" train by
money for inspectors. Some law­ talking about major budget cuts.
makers say the solution would But gambling with the nation's
be to simply empower the indus­ food safety shouldn't even be on
try to initiate its own "self-in­ the table.
spection" program. But con­
Amanda Hitt is the Food
sumer groups have harshly criti­ Integrity Campaign director
cized its unproven model for re­ fo r the Government Account­
ducing foodborne pathogens.
ability Project.
No Solutions Offered from GOP Presidential Field
Debate was
nothing more
than Obama
bashing
by
J udge G reg M athis
The recent Republican
debate, billed as venue for
w ould-be contenders to
e s ta b lis h th e m se lv e s in a
crowded field as they kick off
the 2012 Presidential race, were
nothing more than an Obama
bashing contest.
One would think the presiden­
tial wannabes would have pre­
ferred to have spent their time
presenting their plans for lower-
ing the nation’s high unemploy­
ment rates or proposing ways to
fix our failing education system.
It seems, as least in these
early days of the race, putting
forth solutions is not
the goal. Discredit­
ing the President is.
Some of the com­
ments made at the
debate were so per­
sonal and inflamma­
tory that you had to wonder if the
Republican candidates have a
personal issue with the Presi­
dent.
Former House Speaker Newt
Gingrich wasted no time and
alm ost im m ediately attacked
President Obama, saying that
America needs a “new presi­
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dent to end the Obama Depres­
sion." And Former Pennsylva­
nia Sen. Rick Santorum accused
the President of “shackling the
econom y.”
Perhaps these gentlemen have
forgotten that the “Great Reces­
sion” began under the watch of
George W. Bush.
President Obama has tried to
work across party lines to put
forth legislation that will create
jobs and provide a safety net for
struggling fam ilies. In many
cases, he was hit with Republi­
can opposition so strong that his
original plans had to be modified
beyond recognition.
It’s only natural for a politi­
cian to want to go after their key
opponent. But as voters, we do
expect that at some point the
insults will stop and the real talk
will begin. If the Republicans
think Obama is doing a bad job,
that’s fine. But how will they do
things differently...and better?
We don’t know because, unfor­
tunately, they aren’t saying.
If any of these candidates
sincerely want to better America
and not just improve their stand­
ing in the polls, they are going to
have to come to the table with
real solutions.
If they think that universal
healthcare is a bad idea and
want to repeal it, what are they
going to replace it with? How
are they going to ensure Ameri­
cans get quality healthcare at a
reasonable price? These are the
things we want answers to.
M innesota R epresentative -
an d T e a P a rty f a v o r ite -
M ichelle Bachman was bold
enough to say the President
w on’t be re-elected. No one
know s what the future holds
but we do know this: O bam a
sw ept into office with his m es­
sage o f change and has w orked
hard to bring it to every corner
o f this country.
If Republican candidates can’t
tell us how they’d effect change
and make our lives more secure,
w e’d all be better off if they
stepped down.
Greg Mathis is a retired
Michigan District Court judge
and current syndicated televi­
sion show judge.
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