Bush antagonism to regulation allowed contamination of food

[rusty_parts2001]

The Food and Drug Administration has known for years about contamination problems at a Georgia peanut butter plant and on California spinach farms that led to disease outbreaks that killed three people, sickened hundreds, and forced one of the biggest product recalls in U.S. history, documents and interviews show.

Overwhelmed by huge growth in the number of food processors and imports, however, the agency took only limited steps to address the problems and relied on producers to police themselves, according to agency documents.

Congressional critics and consumer advocates said both episodes show that the agency is incapable of adequately protecting the safety of the food supply.
.....

"This administration does not like regulation, this administration does not like spending money, and it has a hostility toward government. The poisonous result is that a program like the FDA is going to suffer at every turn of the road," said Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.), chairman of the full House committee. Dingell is considering introducing legislation to boost the agency's accountability, regulatory authority and budget.

In the peanut butter case, an agency report shows that FDA inspectors checked into complaints about salmonella contamination in a ConAgra Foods factory in Georgia in 2005. But when company managers refused to provide documents the inspectors requested, the inspectors left and did not follow up.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/22/AR2007042201551_pf.html

[Demeter]

1. Not to Mention That No Embargo Has Been Put on China

purveyor of adulterated and poisonous agricultural products and world leader in counterfeit drugs.

[kestrel91316]

2. FDA has stopped Chinese wheat gluten at the border and is testing

all of it for melamine, as far as I know. Somebody here had a link to the actual FDA order.

[lovuian]

3. uhmmm its in all the starches from China found in rice gluten

fed to pigs in America now quarantined

so FDA testing glutens makes me feel sooo much better NOT!!!

[rumpel]

4. this administration LIKES spending money

more than any previous administration - it goes into no-bid contracts towards companies of friends, family and associates. When times comes to account for expenditures - much of it has evaporated into thin air.
Underfunding all agencies and programs are the result - blatant corruption - I must say.