Officials Say the Darndest Things!

Officials Say the Darndest Things!

Remember on Art Linkletter’s old daytime show when he would put simple questions to a panel of kids and they would respond with adorable howlers?

I think of that sometimes when I read the amazing comments that come out of the mouths of various officials. It’s almost as if they’re sitting in a row of chairs on a platform, answering Art’s questions as best they can.

Today we’ll look at three such comments regarding the safety of our food supply. You can judge for yourself whether they’re hilarious, frightening, or both.

All in the process

First some background

While listening to a recent report on NPR’s Morning Edition, I heard two surprising statistics. And when put side by side, they’re pretty sobering.

1) Over the past three years, agricultural imports from China to the U.S. have doubled. But you won’t be able to tell if many of these imports end up on your dinner plate because a huge percentage of the imports are ingredients that manufacturers use to process foods, such as garlic powder, sausage casings, and apple juice for sweetening.

2) The FDA employs about 650 food inspectors who are responsible for nearly 420 ports of entry. But here’s the catch: Those 650 are also responsible for 60,000 domestic food producers. And to make matters worse, the FDA’s ever dwindling budget devoted to food inspection will soon result in the closure of nearly half of the agency’s food-testing labs.

Scary. More food comes into the country but less gets inspected. So every time we go to the grocery store, we can ask ourselves: Are ya feeling lucky? Wellare ya?

Confidence shaken

Now for those promised official comments

Official Comment #1: In an NPR interview, William Hubbard, former deputy commissioner of the FDA, was asked about the problems linked to eating fish from China that contain residues of antibiotics. He noted that such fish can contribute to antibiotic resistance in humans, and added, “When a foreign processor is using them to make their fish stay alive, that’s clearly a violation of U.S. law.”

Oh sure – we wouldn’t want Chinese food to contribute to human antibiotic resistance. That’s something we can easily take care of right here at home where much of the domestic beef, chicken, and turkey meat we buy in our grocery stores comes from animals that have been given antibiotics.

Official Comment #2: This one also comes from Mr. Hubbard’s NPR interview. He explains that recent contamination of wheat gluten was missed because the FDA’s resources are stretched so thin that agency inspectors were only able to examine about one percent of shipments in U.S. ports last year. Then to cap it off he adds: “When you have what some consider a weak FDA, then that actually gives foreign exporters incentives to send us their bad stuff.”

Given all that, you’ll never believe his response when asked if U.S. consumers should be concerned: “I think the food supply is safe. I think we can continue to consume our food with confidence.”

System failure. Does not compute.

A good brushing

Food is not our only import problem. Late last month all toothpaste shipments from China were blocked from entering the U.S. after a toxic chemical was detected in Chinese toothpaste sold in other countries. A few days later, the FDA announced that brands of this contaminated toothpaste had been discovered in Miami, Los Angeles, and Puerto Rico.

Official Comment #3: A Wall St. Journal article about the toothpaste scare offered a curious statement from Burt Flickinger III, a consultant to consumer-product manufacturers. After noting that most major U.S. toothpaste brands are made here, he said, “Manufacturing toothpaste has always been sensitive because it’s something that you put into your mouth. You can’t take the risk of people being affected.”

Riiiiight. And all those food products imported from China, they’re all put where?