As the nation’s grocers and restaurants continued pulling recalled tomatoes from their shelves this week, the Bush administration asked Congress for $275 million to increase federal food inspections.
The tomato recall, which so far has included only fresh red plum, red Roma and round red varieties, was initiated last week in response to a 16-state outbreak of salmonella food poisoning. No deaths have been reported, but 145 people have been sickened, federal officials say.
McDonald’s, Wal-Mart, Burger King and other national chains have voluntarily withdrawn fresh tomatoes from their menus and shelves as U.S. Food and Drug Administration inspectors work to trace the origin of the contaminated tomatoes.
The $275 million that Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt and FDA Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach requested from Congress on Monday would be for next year’s budget.
Leavitt said the money would allow the agency to open offices in China, India and Central America and increase inspections of food and medical products — with emphasis on stopping contamination and other problems at products’ points of origin. The FDA, Leavitt said, “is going from an intervention strategy to a strategy of preventing with verification.”
It is about time. Over the past three years the United States has been beset with recalls that have affected everything from fresh produce, peanut butter and medicines, to toys and pet food.
Recent outside audits of the FDA have concluded that Americans’ lives could be in danger because the agency lacks adequate funding, staff and scientific skill to perform its duties. The Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, said in a report last year that the nation’s food safety is a “high-risk” matter. But the Bush administration has refused to ask Congress for additional FDA funding until now.
We are glad to see that Leavitt and von Eschenbach are asking for a much-needed infusion of funding and are working to change the FDA’s strategy to better protect the American food and drug supplies. But we have to wonder: What took them so long?
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