'"Significant Weaknesses"' in FDA Inspections

A new Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General report has been issued that finds there are "'significant weaknesses'" in the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) program to inspect domestic food facilities, reports Jared A. Favole in the Wall Street Journal online.

Essentially, the report says the FDA needs to step up the number of inspections it conducts in order to keep up with food-borne illness outbreaks. According to the report, "more than 300,000 Americans are hospitalized and roughly 5,000 die annually after consuming contaminated foods and beverages."

From 2004 through fiscal year 2008 the FDA failed to inspect even half of the 51,229 facilities they are supposed to regulate, reports Lyndsey Layton in the Washington Post online. Over this same time period the amount of regulatory actions issued by the FDA inspections fell from 614 in 2004 to 283 in 2008.

Jasmin Melvin of Reuters is reporting that the "shrinking workforce" at the FDA is partly responsible for much the drop in inspections. This decline in workers may have stretched the FDA too thin to adequately monitor the 80 percent of the U.S. food supply it oversees.

Those advocating for the passage of a major food-safety bill that has passed the House but stalled in the Senate will likely point to the report as evidence that Congress needs to act on this issue. Indeed, Michael R. Taylor, the deputy commissioner for foods for the FDA "said the inspector general's report makes the case for the bill's passage," writes Layton. Taylor views the legislation before Congress as providing the FDA with the power to be proactive in addressing food safety.

The bill is not without controversy. Many farmers feel the legislation would give the FDA too much power to regulate on-the-farm activities, while also increasing the FDA's authority to issue quarantines and food recalls.

The issue of food safety has been a priority of the Obama administration, but attention to the issue has gotten lost in the Senate debate over health care. However, given the report was requested by the Senate Agriculture Committee, perhaps the Senate is planning to move on the legislation.

To read the inspector general report on the FDA's inspection of domestic facilities, click here.
To read the Layton article in the Washington Post online, click here.
To read the Favole article in the Wall Street Journal online, click here.
To read the Melvin article in Reuters online, click here.

Posted: 04/08/10