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FDA Grapples to Find Tainted Tomato Source in Food Poisoning
June 20, 2008

If you needed more proof that the country's premier food safety agency is on the verge of collapse, you only need to look at the pandemonium that's been created by the salmonella food poisoning outbreak across a number of states, which has been linked to tomato consumption. What started as salmonella poisoning that quickly spread across nine states, has now snowballed into a nationwide disaster, with at least 228 people in 23 states infected with a rare form of salmonella.

Now, the FDA has even more reassuring news for us - they will most likely never be able to trace the source of contamination because they simply don't know where the tainted tomatoes came from. Expecting the FDA to pinpoint the exact farm from where the tomatoes were sourced would be a trifle optimistic - the agency isn't even aware of which state or country it came from. For now, the investigations are focusing on Florida and Mexico.

The salmonella outbreak, the thirteenth linked to tomatoes since 1990 - has spurred agency critics to point out fatal flaws in the FDA. The third salmonella food poisoning outbreak this year alone, the epidemic has raised deep concerns about the FDA's ability to provide food safety in this country. Reeling from a funds crunch and staff shortages, the FDA has been found slipping on more than one occasion, and the results have not been pretty. As we write this, the food poisoning outbreak is spreading, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention characterizing it as an "ongoing" outbreak.

Lawmakers have been quick to point out the increasing sluggishness of the FDA in inspecting foods items, and preventing food poisoning outbreaks of this kind. At the Consumers Union, the opinion is that the FDA has been allowed to chug along with no steam to make any of the severely needed changes in its workings. Food inspections are conducted rarely, and it's normal to have inspections of foreign food produce facilities only once in every 5 years.

The FDA for its part says that it gets the short end of the stick when it comes to funds. The Department of Agriculture, which gets the bulk of food safety funding, only inspects about 20 percent of the food supply, while the FDA, with its limited funds, is left to inspect the remaining 80 percent.

While these two agencies bicker about funds, people are lying sick in hospitals, and the country loses money in man hours lost. Our food safety record is beginning to look more and more like a bad joke. It's a shameful day if our country's top food safety agencies are allowed to become so lax in their concern for the health of citizens.

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of food poisoning. Please visit our website at trlglaw.com. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or email us.

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