Chicago
AFL-CIO Executive Council statement
America faces a crisis in the safety of its food distribution system. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 76 million Americans get sick, 325,000 are hospitalized and 5,000 die from food-borne hazards each year.
Over the past year, there have been a number of highly visible recalls involving salmonella-tainted peanut butter, contaminated pet food and pre-packaged spinach tainted with E‑coli. Food products also have been recalled from some of America’s most recognized food companies, involving baked goods, meat products, snack cakes, chicken strips and chocolate products.
These recalls illustrate the current weaknesses within the nation’s food safety system:
- Only 1 percent of all food imports are inspected by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
- Only a small fraction of that 1 percent is actually tested in labs by FDA for bacterial or chemical contaminants.
- The number of FDA and Department of Agriculture food inspectors has been declining since 2003, while food imports into the United States have doubled.
- An ever-increasing number of U.S.-based food companies are outsourcing the production of food products to countries with little or insignificant regulation; these products are then shipped back into the United States, often without inspection.
- The current food labeling system does not properly state the country of origin of processed foods or require companies to disclose from which countries they receive their ingredients.
The combination of an inadequately staffed food inspection system with a dramatic increase in food imports has become an issue of national security. It is imperative that Congress and the president move immediately to rectify this situation.
Specifically, the AFL-CIO calls for:
- Country of origin labeling. All food products that are imported into the United States should clearly identify in which country the product was produced. This will add more importance to the “Made in America” label. In addition, all processed food products should be required to state the country of origin for all ingredients used to make the product.
- Increased FDA inspections. FDA inspectors need to be present at every port of entry for processed foods; it is estimated they are currently present at fewer than 25 percent of all ports. FDA inspectors must also inspect considerably more than the current 1 percent of imported food shipments and must increase the number of laboratories used to analyze food shipments. In addition, the FDA and the Department of Agriculture must expand their domestic inspections of U.S.-based food processing facilities.
- Mandatory recalls. The FDA should be given the power to order mandatory recalls of tainted food. A system should be developed to help identify possible contaminants earlier and penalize companies that do not report contamination or are found to be repeat offenders.