Loophole keeps FDA in the dark on tainted food imports

[RamboLiberal]

Source: USA Today

About 150 imported food shipments a month are tested at a laboratory here for contaminants consumers shouldn't eat, like mercury in swordfish, salmonella in shrimp and filth in mushrooms.

At least 10% of the time, the lab finds the shipments contaminated, says David Eisenberg, chairman of Anresco Labs.

Most of the time, the lab tells no one but the importer who's paying for the test, Eisenberg says. The Food and Drug Administration is none the wiser.

The practice has been going on for years, at Anresco and other labs that test imported food. The FDA gets the favorable test results, but failing ones aren't sent to the FDA if importers tell labs not to send them, five lab operators told USA TODAY.

-----

Like Eisenberg, Reimann says he's had importers threaten to take business elsewhere if labs insist on reporting results showing tested products violated FDA standards.



Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2007-11-18-private-labs-food-safety_N.htm

[OhioChick]

1. K&R

:kick:

[McCamy Taylor]

2. The Jungle all over again.

[shanti]

3. Oh my.....

:wow: wonder who put THIS practice into place??

[RavensChick]

6. Good question.

My thing is, why is this coming out now? Someone should have had the morality if not good old fashioned common sense to alert the public about this a lot sooner, especially to those who can't eat certain things so it can be properly labeled. That explains why I get sick after I eat shrimp or crab. Now I gotta add those on my list of foods I'm allergic to. Damn, given all the recalls of ground beef that USDA has to put up with, on this issue someone at FDA should have looked into this, even if it means blowing the whistle on the agency in charge of this mess. Almost makes me ashamed to work for the government.

[lazyriver]

4. Once I find a local reliable dairy source, all the food my wife

and I eat (with the exception of spices, seasonings, and exotic ingredients that come from the Natural Living Center) will come from either local organic producers, my own garden, or the woods behind my house(if my neighbor gets his deer this year and offers us the usual share). I know the names of all the farmers from whom I purchase food, the names of their spouses and most of their children. I've visited all but one of the farms personally (and I'll get to see that one next spring). It is a little more expensive and initially time consuming to take full responsibility and control of your own food safety than to hit the supermarkets, but to us, it is so worth it.

[xxqqqzme]

5. Bravo to you & your family.

We bought a 68 acre farm in West Virginia in 1974 for the purpose of consuming a naturally as possible. We did have a local dairy farmer where we bought our milk. I tried to teach myself to make cheese but I don't have the talent. Other than that we were quite successful.

Because of that experience, when I was in the house market in '99, one of my 'had to have' was a back yard w/ southern exposure. For the last couple of years, my warning for survival thru this administration consisted of 3 things: 1)rent a tiller and break up your backyard; 2) start planting your backyard w/ a garden of foods you like to eat; and 3) buy a gun.

You can then expand that by composting; creating raised beds; setting up a rain catchment system......as you see the need. Rain catchment is our goal this winter (so Cal gets its rain in the late winter, if we are lucky). We need to catch all the water we can this year.

[lazyriver]

7. It's turned into a fun hobby as much as it is a lifestyle.

As my gardening operation is now in its fifth year, I am ready to expand from a 50' x 40' garden to a 100' x 50' one. More of my scraggly lawn will be tilled over this spring. It's actually mostly a clover patch now. I planted clover around the perimeter of the active garden two years ago to boost nitrogen. The compost piles are producing wonderful rich black nectar and a neighbor drops of a truck load of composted manure each spring for a little extra boost.

As for buying from the local farmers, I really enjoy it. They're all people I like to associate with and they're always willing to give me gardening advice despite the fact it might mean I have to buy less from some of them in the future.

If, in the next year or so this administration doesn't manage to kill us all or plunge us into a depression the likes of which nobody's ever seen, I should be able to finally purchase a small farm in central Maine I've had my eye on for a little while.

[xxqqqzme]

8. Sounds wonderful. We were able to raise

our own animals so we had horse, chickem & pig manure going into our compost pit. Our land had been farmed for many years so our compost 'pit' was the rock lined remains of an old root cellar. We were lucky in Appalachia to have bottom land - we were where two streams joined - so we had a nice big hay field w/ fruit trees scattered around the perimeter.

The kids & I took their dad's ashes back last year to scatter them. The soil is still rich & black and not as overgrown as I expected.

Good luck in your endeavors - you are right it IS a lifestyle change - hope that little piece of Maine is ready for you & your family.

[undergroundpanther]

9. Corporations are basically designed to function like psychopaths

That is a big problem.Corporations are all about profits not people.So unless it profits the corporation they really do not care if we get sick.
Especially if you are poor disabled or in the lower class.

Fuck the corporations.
http://www.ratical.org/corporations/