Food-Safety Measures Faulted
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By JANE ZHANG
June 12, 2008; Page A4
WASHINGTON -- Amid a salmonella outbreak linked to tomatoes, a congressional report criticized the Bush administration for failing to identify the steps and funding needed to protect the nation's food supply.
The Food and Drug Administration hasn't given details on how or when it will put into practice a food-safety plan it first laid out in November, or how much it will cost, according to the Government Accountability Office, Congress's investigations arm.
The report comes as the FDA is under fire for the latest outbreak, this one involving a rare, virulent strain of salmonella linked to fresh tomatoes. Federal officials said Wednesday that 167 people in 17 states have become ill after eating fresh tomatoes. Authorities are investigating whether a death in Texas is related to the outbreak, said Ian Williams, chief of the OutbreakNet team at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The salmonella outbreak follows a slew of food recalls in recent years, including lettuce, peanut butter to pet food.
The GAO report said the FDA had promised a progress report by April on steps it had taken to carry out its plan to keep the food supply safe. But the agency recently told the GAO that its parent, the Department of Health and Human Services, hasn't approved the report.
As a result, "neither Congress nor the public can gauge the plan's progress or assess its likelihood of success in achieving its intended results," Lisa Shames, GAO director of natural resources and environment, said in testimony prepared for a Thursday hearing of the House Energy and Commerce Committee's investigations panel.
Among other things, the plan would make it easier for the FDA to obtain company records that can help trace food contamination, and to force food recalls.
Many lawmakers would like to give the FDA more money and authority, but some say they are puzzled that the Bush administration hasn't sent clear legislative language on what it needs. HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt said Monday that the administration would request an additional $275 million in next year's budget for food safety.
That drew an angry response Wednesday from Sen. Arlen Specter, the Pennsylvania Republican who was one of Capitol Hill's biggest proponents for getting the FDA an emergency boost of $275 million. Mr. Specter accused the administration of trying to "sabotage" the agency's chances of getting that money any time soon, saying that Mr. Leavitt's approach would "defer it to next March or April."
The FDA declined to comment on Mr. Specter's letter.
On the House side, Rep. John Dingell (D., Mich.), who heads the Energy and Commerce Committee, said the FDA's food-safety plan "will become just a paper exercise if there are no details or money to back it up."
An FDA spokeswoman declined to comment and said the agency will respond to the GAO statement at the hearing.
The FDA has been scrambling to find the source of the salmonella outbreak, David Acheson, FDA's associate commissioner for foods, told reporters Wednesday. Dr. Acheson said the steps the FDA has taken so far to implement the food-safety plan haven't helped track the source.
Unlike bagged salads, which have production codes printed on packages, tomatoes mostly come to retailers, supermarkets and consumers in bulk. To track where the tainted tomatoes were grown, the FDA is relying on record-keeping in the supply chain. That can be spotty and confusing, partly because tomatoes are easily perishable and many merchants have more than one supplier.
"We are getting very close" to identifying the source, but it is "time consuming and complicated," Dr. Acheson said.
The FDA, constrained by resources, hasn't kept pace with the rising number of imported and domestic food products, the GAO said. Dr. Acheson said the agency's food-safety plan would change its focus from crisis management to prevention, and that the salmonella outbreak showed the need to pursue the change "with maximum vigor."
--Jared Favole and Alicia Mundy contributed to this article.
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