US economy

Government shutdown: Inspections resuming for high-risk food, like seafood, baby formula


The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is restarting inspections of high-risk foods that had been stopped due to the federal government shutdown as early as Tuesday.

The estimated 150 furloughed people recalled to do this are mostly unpaid, according to FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb.  

High-risk foods include seafood; dairy products, including soft and semi-soft cheeses; custard-filled bakery products; unpasteurized juices; fresh fruits and vegetables; spices; shell eggs; sandwiches; prepared salads; and infant formula, he said.

“These men and women are the tip of the spear in our consumer protection mission,” he tweeted. “They’re the very front line. And they’re on the job. The entire nation owes them gratitude. I’m inspired by their dedication.”

More: Walmart-CVS Caremark split: Filling your prescriptions is going to get harder

More: Hottest vehicles at Detroit auto show: Shelby GT, electric SUV, Kia SUV

More: Netflix raises monthly prices on all of its US plans; here’s how much you’ll pay

Monday saw the FDA resume sampling high-risk imported produce at ports in the Northeast, according to Gottlieb.

On Wednesday, he tweeted that about one-third of the approximately 8,400 inspections the FDA does annually are routine surveillance inspections of high-risk food facilities. What stopped were routine inspections of non-high-risk facilities, like cookie and cracker bakeries. The FDA typically conducts about 160 domestic food inspections weekly and 31 percent of those would be considered high risk.

“The primary factors contributing to a facility’s risk profile include: the type of food, the manufacturing process, and the compliance history of the facility,” Gottlieb tweeted. 

Meat, poultry and processed egg products aren’t inspected by the FDA, but the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Those have been unaffected since the start of the shutdown because they’re deemed essential.

Since the shutdown began on Dec. 22, five food recalls have been on the FDA’s website.

“It’s a good thing we’re getting back to some level of inspections for high-risk,” said Benjamin Chapman, an associate professor of food safety at North Carolina State University. “It’s not one of those things where it’s like, ‘Oh, my gosh. Our food was unsafe and now, we’ll be safe again.’ It’s not as trite as that. Any sets of eyes looking for foodborne illness risks is better than none.”

The FDA cautioned on Monday via Twitter and its web site that pet owners shouldn’t feed their dogs A+ Answers Straight Beef Formula for Dogs, due to concerns that one lot was contaminated with salmonella.

During the October 2013 federal government shutdown, high-risk food surveillance inspections were stopped, Gottlieb pointed out in a tweet, adding, “We’ve taken a different posture based on sound public health and legal rationale.”

On Wednesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which works with the FDA on foodborne illnesses, announced that the E. coli outbreak linked to romaine lettuce in 2018 appeared to be over. The outbreak, which had been announced in November, sickened 62 people in 16 states, including 25 who had to be hospitalized. No one died.

Follow USA TODAY reporter Zlati Meyer on Twitter: @ZlatiMeyer



READ SOURCE

Leave a Reply

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you accept our use of cookies.