Mmmm... Forbidden Foreign Donut Posted by Adam Blickstein

Country of origin labels will soon be mandatory on all U.S. food products on most perishable items, including meat, fruit, produce and nuts. According to reports, the main reason for this new labeling regime is to "enable consumers to avoid food that, for example, comes from countries that they have heard have food safety problems." But the problem isn't necessarily with food importations, especially since we import only about 15% of our food supply (though its projected to increase substantially over the next decade), but with what happens to the food once it reaches our shores:

GAO noted that even as food imports surge, FDA inspectors of foreign food firms has dropped from 211 in fiscal year 2001 to fewer than 100 in 2007. About 15 percent of the overall U.S. food supply is imported.

FDA's Science Board, and advisory panel to the agency, said last month that FDA does not have the capacity, such as staffing and technology, to ensure the safety of the U.S. food supply.

The report was part of a broader investigation into the FDA that said lives are at risk because the agency is behind in the latest scientific advances, and it is underfunded.

The new labels are also meant "to allow consumers to stick to American-grown food, if that is their preference." One problem, of course, is that one of the countries consumers might want to avoid is the United States itself, as food safety under the Bush administration has been anything but safe:

The Government Accountability Office released an audit Monday suggesting at least six other countries and the European Union have better food safety systems than the United States.

The FDA and USDA have struggled through a year of high-profile recalls. The latest, involving the salmonella poisoning of 1,148 people in 42 states and the District of Columbia, is believed to have been caused by bad produce like tomatoes and jalapeno peppers. The FDA is still trying to find the source of that problem.

Meanwhile USDA, which in February launched the largest meat recall ever (143 million pounds), is experiencing more E coli contamination cases this summer. Nebraska Beef, an Omaha meatpacking company, recently recalled 5.3 million pounds of beef due to E coli contamination. That recall began in June when the Kroger Co., recalled meat from some of its stores.

The main reason for all the domestic food turmoil? FDA inspections, due to budget cuts, of domestic food producing facilities have decreased 56 percent from 2003 to 2007. Not sure labels will sufficiently shield us from this kitchen table health crisis.

An aside, this is a pretty frightening description of imported meat from the Guardian article cited above:

Because of the complexities of the livestock industry, some product labels may list multiple countries. That's especially true of ground beef, since some meat processors combine cuts from a number of countries to make ground meat and hamburger patties.

Ah, there's nothing more American than multinational meatloaf...

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