Congress Wants Answers on Food Safety

By Paul Strand

CBN News

April 25, 2007

CBNNews.com - WASHINGTON - Three people died and almost 200 became ill from E-coli in tainted spinach this last fall.

The Armstrong family testified on Capitol Hill Tuesday about what they went through when daughters Isabella and Ashley fell victim to e-coli tainted greens - Ashley almost to the point of death.

"At the time she was on dialysis. She required blood transfusions; Her kidneys had shut down. She had pancreatitis; She had brain swelling," Ashley's father, Michael Armstrong, testified.

More than 400 Americans were sickened from salmonella in jars of peanut butter this winter.

A Deadly Supplement

Terri Marshall talked about almost losing her 85-year-old mother-in-law to salmonella-infected peanut butter, which she snacked on as a healthy food.

"She would eat a spoonful or two several times a day or night just to supplement her nutrition," said Marshall. "The reality is the very food she thought would improve her health began to ravage her body."

Now a number of pets have died or grown ill from contaminated pet food in just these recent weeks.

Congress wants to know why the FDA can't do more, especially after the agency admitted it's overwhelmed with the sheer number of food producers and imports to police.

A Matter of National Security?

"The safety of the food Americans put on their table every night is more than just a trade issue. It's more than just a public health issue. Food safety has the potential of becoming a national security risk, a national security threat," said Rep. Bart Stupak.

The food contaminations of these last few months were all accidental but the threat of deliberate tampering was also on these lawmakers' minds.

"You simply have to be a concerned citizen or a parent to know that a very real threat exists when a terrorist could easily put some type of toxic chemical into some product that is moving through the food chain," said Rep. Marsha Blackburn.

As for inspections, when it comes to meat, the FDA has inspectors looking at those plants everyday. But produce plants are likely to get away without an inspection for years.

Lawmakers expressed anger at the FDA, which usually just leaves those food processors to police themselves, and at the processors for sometimes not doing a very good job of it.

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