Change Blows Through Food Safety System
(Factory Food • Verbatim)
Updated: Congress, specifically Republican House and Ag Committee leaders, have at least temporarily scuttled H.R. 2749, the Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009, which would’ve beefed up (OK, pun intended) food inspection procedures and given government agencies more weapons in rooting out contaminants from the food system.
Wealthy agricultural interests really didn’t want that to happen, and used their lobbying dollars to at least temporarily win out, again, over people who’d just like to buy a pound of hamburger without worrying about whether it will make their kids vomit, or worse.
But the bill could come back for a vote later this session, and even if not, indications are that change of some kind is coming in the food inspection arena.
For example, David Acheson writes to say he’s left the Food & Drug Administration, where he served as very visible front man and associate commissioner of foods. Acheson is joining a new private consulting firm called Leavitt Partners, founded by former Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt. “My focus will continue to be on food safety and the global food supply chain,” Acheson said.
I’ll be interested to learn more about the firm’s services and client list.
Meanwhile, as of 8:36 p.m., I offer example two from an FDA email:
At the request of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, U.S. Marshals today seized tuna salad sandwiches and other food products from Bearden Sandwich Company Inc., doing business as Southern Belle Sandwich Company, in Baton Rouge, La.The seized products, totaling more than $72,000, violate the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act because the products have been prepared, packed, and held under unsanitary conditions whereby they may have become contaminated with filth or rendered injurious to the public’s health (the Act uses the term “insanitary” to describe such conditions). In addition, the tuna fish salad sandwiches were processed under conditions that violate Seafood Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) regulations.
“When FDA investigators find violations inside a company’s facility, we will do what is necessary to keep insanitary and potentially harmful products out of consumers’ hands,” said Michael Chappell, the FDA’s acting associate commissioner for regulatory affairs. “Companies that are not complying with our laws will be subject to enforcement actions.”
Recent FDA inspections found evidence of widespread and active rodent and insect infestation, filthy conditions, and poor employee practices, such as allowing food-processing utensils to lie on the floor near live insects.
The company distributes products to convenience and retail stores in southern Louisiana; Mobile, Ala.; Montgomery, Ala.; and Crestview, Fla.
Now that’s what I call high quality H2O.
→ B.Dunn, Aug 07, 2009, 06 33 pm
