WASHINGTON -- As Americans have come to expect year-round supplies of cheap food, the system for ensuring food safety increasingly depends on the vigilance of importers and foreign governments -- a problem highlighted by the contamination of pet food by an industrial chemical from China, experts say.
Imports have soared, but the food safety system has not been similarly adjusted. The government has a disproportionate number of inspectors checking meat in the United States, even as Americans eat increasing amounts of fresh vegetables and frozen seafood from abroad every year.
The Food and Drug Administration is supposed to ensure the safety of most of the food that enters the United States. But imports of food subject to FDA regulation have increased fivefold since 1997, and the agency has not been able to keep up, say former government officials, industry representatives and food safety scholars.
Today, because of budget cuts, the agency is able to check only a tiny fraction of the 20 million imported products it is responsible for monitoring each year.
The FDA can inspect overseas plants, but it rarely has the money or staff to do so, say former officials and food safety scholars. Instead, the agency relies on spot checks at ports like Baltimore's. Nationwide, its inspectors review just 1 percent of shipments.
The FDA carries out fewer than 8,000 food inspections a year -- down from 35,000 in the 1970s. And despite heightened concerns about bioterrorism, the number of FDA inspectors is no higher than it was on Sept. 11, 2001.
"It's not the kind of protection that consumers want," said William K. Hubbard, a former FDA assistant commissioner who is leading a group of industry, medical and consumer groups seeking more agency funding. "I think people believe government needs to be protecting the food supply, not foreign suppliers."
Investigators suspect that Chinese firms added melamine, a plastic derivative not approved for use in food, to boost the price of wheat gluten that pet food makers use to thicken products. Investigators say they believe the chemical caused the deaths of at least 16 pets and the recall of more than 60 million products.
The scare has fed fears about the security of the American food supply -- not only for pets, but for people too -- and raised questions about the effectiveness of the government's safety system, especially now that consumers get more food from abroad.
