Pet food contamination opens debate over changes in U.S. food safety system

Food & Drink Weekly, April 30, 2007

Congressional leaders last week threatened to make sweeping changes to the Bush administration's food safety system in light of fresh concerns over contaminated pet food. Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), whose House Appropriations subcommittee has jurisdiction over FDA, said her panel may cut off salaries for directors of some FDA centers and offices unless there is rapid improvement. DeLauro said "it has become all too clear that a lack of commitment for management" was a factor in FDA's "disjointed food and drug safety system."

On the Senate side, Senate Agriculture Committee chairman Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) asked the inspectors general of USDA and the Department of Health and Human Services to jointly examine the food safety system. "I am concerned about the marked increase in cases of adulteration of food over the past six months," wrote Harkin. "From human food-borne illness cases caused by microbial pathogens in spinach, tomatoes and peanut butter to kidney failure in companion animals caused by the chemical melamine in pet food, the widespread effects of these events are alarming." He suggested eight topics for the review, ranging from food production practices overseas to how often U.S. plants are inspected and whether USDA and FDA have sufficient power to respond to food adulteration.

Meanwhile, the Associated Press reports that China has invited FDA inspectors to help in the investigation into possible contaminated food exports. "The U.S. reported finding melamine in pet food. China attaches great importance to this case. FDA wants to send officials to China to exchange ideas and consult on inspection techniques. China will cooperate on this," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao.

AP also reports that China said it has banned melamine from food products after the chemical was found in vegetable protein exports shipped to the United States, but rejected it as the cause of dozens of pet deaths. China's Foreign Ministry said in a statement there was no evidence to support the FDA's claim but that it would cooperate with the United States to find out what actually killed the animals.

The ministry's comments were the first detailed response from Beijing to concerns that emerged a month ago about the country's wheat and rice gluten exports. China has said it was investigating the issue but had not acknowledged until Thursday that Chinese companies had shipped gluten tainted with melamine to the United States. The ministry said the contaminated vegetable protein managed to get past customs without inspection because it had not been declared for use in pet food.