The Recall of Pet Food Isn't the Only Concern
Posted by
Rick PattersonMay 04, 2007 12:59 PMDid you know that as little as one pound of tainted wheat gluten is enough to contaminate as much as a thousand pounds of food? Given the tainted wheat gluten that the United States and others have been dealing with of late, that is a very disturbing thought. At this point we should definitely be taking a close look at what other products come to our shores from other countries, specifically China.
The inspection process that is currently in place in the United States, with respect to meat that comes to our country from abroad, is in stark contrast to the inspection process for other ingredients that continue to come in from China and elsewhere. Iimported beef, for example, is inspected at the point of processing by the U.S. Agriculture Department. However, few practical safeguards have been established to ensure the quality of food ingredients from China.
It is unfortunate, to say the least, that if the Food and Drug Administration did want to really take control of the situation, their hands are somewhat tied. That is because there is no way of knowing exactly which plant each ingredient originated from. In turn, that is why it took weeks of searching for the original source of the contaminated pet food. Can you imagine if that type of contamination happened in the human food chain.
In order to protect consumers here, clearly we must revise our regulatory approaches. Consider this, as much as 80 percent of the world's vitamin C is now manufactured in China. A substantial amount of that is unregulated and some of it of questionable quality.
Europe is ahead of the United States in seeking greater accountability and traceability in food safety and importation with their "rapid alert system" - not that their system is by any means perfect. There is no question that Congress and the administration must work together and move aggressively in order to implement stricter standards sooner rather than later.