Americans have a right to know where their produce is coming from, and what safeguards are in place.
Published December 8, 2003
A recent case of deadly food contamination illustrates how the federal government fails to protect consumers from tainted produce imported into the country. An outbreak of hepatitis A at a Pennsylvania Chi-Chi's restaurant that sickened more than 600 people and killed three was linked to green onions produced in Mexico. It may have been the first time many Americans learned of illnesses related to the consumption of imported vegetables, but this was not an isolated incident.
Two months before the tragedy, contaminated onions also caused outbreaks of hepatitis A in Tennessee, Georgia and North Carolina, leaving at least 300 people ill. That produce was traced back to the same farms in Mexico where the Chi-Chi's onions were grown. Yet the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued no public warning until after the well-publicized deaths in Pennsylvania.
"Some of the FDA's policies protect the food industry at the expense of consumers," said Caroline Smith DeWaal, food safety director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest. "In this case, delaying public notification may have cost lives."
FDA officials say the link to Mexican onions wasn't made early enough for a warning, but even if the agency were more responsive in such cases, the American public would still be at risk. It is a matter of a redundant bureaucracy and the magnitude of the task. The Agricultural Department inspects beef, pork and poultry, while the FDA is responsible for vegetables and fruit, seafood and, oddly, eggs and milk. Many Americans probably will be surprised to learn that produce causes nearly as many illnesses as beef and poultry combined. Yet the FDA has only about 1,000 inspectors compared with a USDA force of 7,600.
Imported vegetables pose a greater risk than those grown domestically. In an FDA test three years ago, produce samples from other countries were more than three times as likely to contain harmful organisms. Meanwhile, imported vegetables and fruits are a growing portion of the American diet.
FDA inspectors are visiting Mexican onion exporters linked to the recent hepatitis A cases, and it's not yet clear what caused the contamination. It could have been rinse or irrigation water tainted by sewage, or infected workers handling the onions. Whatever its findings, the FDA doesn't have the authority to regulate Mexican farming practices, although the agency could restrict importation from those farms.
Only Congress can address the most serious shortcomings in laws protecting consumers. Food inspections should be handled by a single agency that is more independent from political influence, but until that day comes, the FDA obviously needs more resources to inspect imported produce. And lawmakers should be more responsive to the needs of consumers rather than the food industry.
A bill that would require a country-of-origin label on all imported food is being undermined by House Republicans, who would delay implementation until 2006. Grocery stores and vegetable importers oppose the law because they believe it will make it more difficult to sell imported produce and meat. Maybe it will, but Americans should know where the food they eat is being grown.
The deaths in Pennsylvania should be warning enough that the inspection program for imported produce is not adequate to protect American consumers.
