A report by the food and Drug Administration says the agency has made what it calls significant progress over the last year in protecting the nation’s food supply, though critics say it still has a long way to go to keep consumers safe.

The report deals with the implementation of the Food Protection Plan, which was put in place last year with the aim of preventing contamination, both accidental and deliberate, in food both foreign and domestic.

Preventing outbreaks before they start

The FDA says it is starting to get ahead of food safety issues by establishing field offices in other countries. The first such office opened last month in China, and more bureaus are planned in Latin America, Europe, India and the Middle East.

In addition, the agency has met with federal, state and local authorities to “address the challenges” of protecting the food supply and trained industry representatives on a self-assessment tool designed to prevent outbreaks.

The FDA earlier this year approved irradiation of some produce to help prevent E. coli outbreaks and is using genetic analysis to identify different strains of salmonella found in seafood.

FDA inspectors looked at nearly 6,000 establishments considered at high risk of contamination, including locations in Denver and Minneapolis/St. Paul during the Democratic and Republican conventions. The agency says reporting on adverse feed events will make it easier to respond to contamination or outbreaks in animal feed, which should prevent problems from making it into the human food supply.

Not enough resources, congresswoman says

Critics say that even though the FDA is making progress, the system is basically broken and needs a complete overhaul before citizens will really be safe. Representative Rosa DeLauro from Connecticut told the New York Times that the agency needs to be “totally redone” because “at every step they fail on just such a large scale.”

The FDA itself acknowledges that it lack funding to do everything that it wants to do, and many hope for a revamping of the system with the incoming Obama administration.

Safe levels for melamine in baby food set

Meanwhile, late last week the FDA established guidelines for acceptable levels of melamine in infant formula after trace amounts of the chemical were found in samples of American formula. Two samples of Nestle’s Good Start Supreme Infant Formula with Iron tested positive for melamine (at 137 and 140 parts per billion) at levels much lower than the government says are safe — 1,000 parts per billion.

In addition, three samples of Enfamil LIPIL with Iron tested positive for cyanuric acid, a compound similar to melamine, at about 247 parts per billion, also considered safe. The levels in American formula are 10,000 times less than the levels found in Chinese formula that have sickened tens of thousands of infants there, officials said.

(By Sarah E. White for CalorieLab Calorie Counter News)

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