Acheson said during a conference call with reporters that the FDA has been studying the causes of tomato contamination over the past year in an effort to improve prevention efforts. But he acknowledged that the agency hasn't upgraded its computer systems, a key step in its food protection plan for speeding up investigations.
"We're actually working on that now, but we're not at that point where we've been able to implement any specific changes," Acheson said. "Clearly this situation has illustrated the importance of pursuing that with maximum vigor."
Stupak, who chairs the Energy and Commerce investigations subcommittee looking into FDA's food safety efforts, said the problem is that agency investigators are relying on computers that can't communicate with each other, while other records are stored in boxes, not electronically.
"It really is pathetic," he said.
The FDA is responsible for ensuring the safety of 80 percent of the country's food supply, almost $470 billion in fruits, vegetables, seafood and other products. The Department of Agriculture is responsible for meat, poultry and egg products.
The FDA's food safety efforts became a hot-button issue in late 2006 with a bacterial outbreak in bagged spinach that killed three people and sickened 204 across Maryland and 25 other states. Concern intensified with the recall of Taco Bell lettuce, Peter Pan peanut butter and pet food.
FDA officials said the November reform plan would enable the agency to better predict, prevent and respond to outbreaks, but that same month the agency's Science Board issued a report saying the agency lacked the staff, computer systems and funds to ensure food safety.
Later, the board estimated that the agency's food budget would need $755 million more by 2013 to adequately carry out its responsibilities. The board recommended $128 million in extra food funding in fiscal 2009.
The FDA has "been hampered very much by an administration that hasn't supported them," said Michael R. Taylor, a former agency official now at George Washington University's School of Public Health.
FDA officials have known for a decade that they needed to bolster efforts to reduce bacterial outbreaks in fresh produce, Taylor said, "but we haven't moved the ball forward in terms of doing the science or developing the standards to prevent foodborne illnesses, and so here we go again."
This week, the Bush administration moved to head off criticism by announcing it would propose $275 million more - including $125 million for food protection - for FDA's budget for the coming fiscal year.
In making the announcement, Health and Human Services Secretary Michael O. Leavitt sought to blame Congress for failing to grant FDA additional powers to improve food safety.
But Republican Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvanian responded by criticizing the administration for not putting the extra money into the FDA's current budget.
The administration, Specter wrote in his own hand at the bottom of a letter to Leavitt, "is drastically hindering necessary immediate relief by denying the funding for over 9 months. FDA needs this money now to save lives."
jonathan.rockoff@baltsun.com
