FDA Knew About Food Safety Problems

April 2007

Official documents and interviews show that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had previous knowledge of problems that produced recent food poisoning outbreaks in peanut butter and spinach.

A 2005 report shows that the agency was investigating the ConAgra facility responsible for this year’s Salmonella outbreak in peanut butter as far back as October of 2004. But when ConAgra requested official documents in writing, the FDA failed to follow up and the report was abandoned.

A 2005 letter sent to California growers in the Salinas Valley warns about contamination in lettuce, spinach, and more. Later, in the last half of 2006, the largest leafy greens recall ever occurred when spinach grown in the region was responsible for a nationwide outbreak of E. coli poisoning.

Next year, the FDA’s food safety budget will increase by $10 million. But this is ten times less than the increase granted to the United States Department of Agriculture, which is responsible for the nation’s meat, poultry, and eggs.