Contaminated food has remained on the shelf for months because the Food and Drug Administration sometimes moves too slowly to force food manufacturers to recall it, according to a report released Thursday by a watchdog agency inside the Department of Health and Human Services.
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In the first case, nSpired Natural Foods voluntarily recalled tainted peanut and almond butters, but that was 165 days after the FDA first found salmonella in samples from one of the company’s plants. “This issue is a significant matter and requires FDA’s immediate attention”, Levinson said in the memo.
The Food and Drug Administration is under fire from the Office of Inspector General for inefficient and ineffective food recall procedures that left the public at risk for as much as six months after the agency knew there was a problem.
Still, Deputy Commissioner Stephen Ostroff says food safety officials will now review slow-moving cases on a weekly basis. The FDA must give companies a chance to recall products voluntarily, before announcing a mandatory recall. To help ensure the safety of the nation’s food supply, we recommended that FDA consider our findings when implementing the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act and follow its own procedures for monitoring recalls.
The inspector general looked at 30 voluntary recalls issued between October 2012 and May 2015.
Salmonella is a bacterial illness that can cause fever, cramps, diarrhea and other symptoms, particularly in people with compromised immune systems. Fourteen people in 11 states became ill in the outbreak.
Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said, “It’s the job of the FDA to ensure that when we go to the grocery store, the foods we buy won’t make our families sick”.
In the second case, Oasis Brands recalled several tainted cheese products in 2014.
In another series of recalls, at least nine people became ill, including a baby who died, from listeria bacteria in cheese.
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The FDA sent investigators to the company’s manufacturing plant for further testing twice during the 81 day-delay, and found contamination both times. In August, the recall was finally issued. And it noted that despite new powers the agency got in 2011 to force companies to recall unsafe products – rather than ask them to act voluntarily -and new technology that allows scientists to identify pathogens faster, the government is still endangering the public by dragging out its investigations. “The time needed to collect evidence can vary, but to request a recall without evidence risks recalling the wrong product and leaving consumers vulnerable to contaminated food that is still on the market”. The FDA began an investigation, and during the 81 says it took before the recall was sent out, two fetal deaths were linked to the contamination.
