Sure, we figured the FDA could do a better job of protecting the food supply, especially after findings of E. coli contamination in packaged spinach, pet food recalls, and tainted drugs.

Now, a new House Oversight and Government Reform committee report explains just how inadequate FDA's enforcement and oversight has been, using the case of fresh spinach.

To sum it up, the report found that FDA isn't inspecting facilities frequently enough and, when it does find safety problems, doesn't require corrections. Instead, it relies on voluntary compliance.

Federal guidelines require FDA to inspect spinach facilities at least once a year, but the report shows that facilities were inspected every 2.4 years. The investigation also found that even though nearly half of the inspections revealed sanitary problems in the last 7 years (such as inadequate restroom sanitation, poor worker hygiene, and litter piles), FDA didn't report the facilities to its enforcement authorities -- it didn't force companies to make corrections, including the Natural Selection Foods facility later tied to the 2006 E. coli outbreak in spinach.

FDA, what gives?

Source: The Washington Post

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