990268 USDA & FDA to Work “More Closely” On Food Safety

Washington - Two of the more than one dozen federal agencies charged with protecting the nation's food supply agreed to share information about inspections, recalls and outbreaks of foodborne illnesses.

The Food and Drug Administration, which monitors fresh fruits, vegetables and most processed foods, will work more closely with the U.S. Agriculture Department's Food Safety and Inspection Service, which oversees the safety of meat and poultry.

“What that means is that district offices of each agency will tell their counterparts about recalls, contamination, mislabeling or unhealthy conditions,” said Donna Shalala, secretary of Health and Human Services. “We haven't always seen that kind of cooperation in the past.”

Consumer groups have long complained about turf battles between the two agencies.

For example, the more generously funded FSIS has inspectors at food plants that make pizza but they typically check only those with meat toppings and ignore vegetarian or cheese pizzas on the production line.

The two agencies, along with the Environmental Protection Agency, also plan to launch a new web site for local health officials and consumers to find information about recalls, regulations and the new model food safety guidelines for restaurants and grocery stores. The web site, which was not yet on-line Tuesday, will be at www.foodsafety.gov.

Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman said the USDA was in the “final stages” of drafting legislation to make it easier for state-inspected meat products to be sold widely. Currently, state-inspected meat is forbidden by federal law from being shipped outside that state.

“One thing I've learned from the breadth of questions I field is that people don't care if it's USDA or FDA, they don't care if it's a federal meat inspector or a state public health inspector; they just want their government to do its job and do it well,” Glickman said.

The push for more cooperation among federal agencies comes at a time when the USDA and FDA are finalizing a response to last summer's National Academy of Sciences analysis of food safety. That group of scientists urged the Clinton Administration to consider creating a single food safety agency to simplify the maze of laws and guidelines that now exist.

Currently, the Centers for Disease Control, Commerce Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms and Tobacco are among the various federal agencies with some responsibility for food safety.

Tainted food kills an estimated 9,000 Americans annually and sickens millions of others, especially children and people with weakened immune systems. The biggest sources of contamination are salmonella, E. coli, campylobacter and listeria.

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