Healthy soil and sustainable growing

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So charge the processors for FDA inspections. then there's plenty of money
for inspections. After all, it's their fault we have to inspect because
they don't. What could be more fair?


Government tightening food safety standards
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Government-tightening-food-apf-1176993207.html
?x=0&.v=7
    * By Mary Clare Jalonick, Associated Press Writer
    * On Tuesday July 7, 2009, 7:13 pm EDT


New food safety standards for eggs, meat, vegetables being adopted by Obama
administration


WASHINGTON (AP) -- The White House is trying to make Americans' food safer
after recent recalls of popular products like peanut butter and cookie
dough.

A food safety working group established by President Barack Obama said
Tuesday that the government will try and boost the safety of some of the
nation's most popular foods, announcing stricter rules for the production
of eggs, poultry, beef, leafy greens, melons and tomatoes. The new
standards are an effort to reduce instances of salmonella and E. coli
contamination.

The group, headed by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Health and Human
Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, is also directing the Food and Drug
Administration to help the food industry establish better tracing systems
if there is an outbreak, so the origins of a disease can be quickly found.
A new network to help the many agencies that regulate food safety
communicate better will also be created.

Tougher standards, including stiffer penalties and increased inspections,
are included in legislation approved by a House panel earlier this year.

The White House and Congress have turned their attention to the issue after
a string of food safety breakdowns in recent years, from contaminated
spinach in 2006 to salmonella in peppers and possibly tomatoes last year.

Earlier this year a massive salmonella outbreak in peanut products sickened
hundreds, was suspected of causing nine deaths and led to one of the
largest product recalls in U.S. history. In the past month, Nestle Toll
House cookie dough and 380,000 pounds of beef produced by the JBS Swift
Beef Co. of Greeley, Colo., have been recalled due illnesses caused by E.
coli contamination.

In March, Obama said he would create a special advisory group to coordinate
antiquated food safety laws and recommend ways to update them. The FDA does
not have enough money or workers to conduct annual inspections at more than
a fraction of the 150,000 food processing plants and warehouses in the
country, Obama said.

Under the new rules:

--Egg and poultry producers will have to follow new standards designed to
reduce salmonella contamination, including increased testing and
refrigeration for eggs.

--The Food Safety Inspection Service, the Agriculture Department agency
that inspects meat, will increase sampling of ground beef ingredients in an
effort to better find E. coli contamination.

--The FDA will recommend ways that producers of leafy greens, melons and
tomatoes can reduce disease strains, and require stricter standards in
those industries within two years.

--The FDA and the Agriculture Department will create new positions to
better oversee food safety. The FDA said Tuesday that Mike Taylor, a food
safety expert and George Washington University professor, will serve as a
senior adviser to the commissioner.

Consumer groups said the new rules were good first steps as Congress
considers even stricter measures.

"We still urgently need to overhaul our badly outdated laws so that FDA has
the tools and funds they need to inspect, prevent and detect food
contamination," said Erik D. Olson, director of food and consumer product
safety at the Pew Charitable Trusts. "FDA must be able to strongly enforce
against food companies that import contaminated foods or hide test results
showing contamination."

Vice President Joe Biden, who joined Vilsack and Sebelius for the
announcement, said the administration's efforts to prevent disease are an
important new approach.

"The focus on prevention is to have a completely different emphasis than
we've had in the past," Biden said. "In the past we've focused on better
reactions to food safety problems when they occur."

The Agriculture Department inspects meat and poultry, and shares
inspections of eggs with the FDA. The FDA inspects most other foods, but at
least 15 government agencies are a part of the food safety system.

Food and Drug Administration: http://www.fda.gov/

Agriculture Department: http://www.usda.gov/

President's Food Safety Working Group:
http://www.foodsafetyworkinggroup.gov/