Is the U.S. food safety system really all that safe?
Is the U.S. food safety system really all that safe?
You may have noticed more food and drink recalls in the news lately. Last year the Food and Drug Administration saw the highest number of food recalls it’s had in the past five years, with a total of 506 recall events, according to a recent report by Sedgwick, a market research firm.
Just this month, national grocery chain Trader Joe’s recalled its soup dumplings for possible plastic contaminates and its whole cashews for a possible salmonella contamination.
With all these recalls, is the American food safety system really all that safe?
“Marketplace” host Amy Scott spoke with Keren Landman, a reporter at Vox, about her piece on the shortcomings of the American food safety system, and why some grocers experience more recalls than others. Below is an edited transcript of their conversation.
Amy Scott: How is food safety regulated in this country?
Keren Landman: So there are sort of two main agencies that oversee food safety in the U.S. One is the Food Safety and Inspection Service, the FSIS, which is a branch of the USDA, the Department of Agriculture. They primarily oversee meat and egg products, and they’re in those production facilities every day. The Food and Drug Administration oversees pretty much everything else, which is about 80% of our food supply. They really only inspect the production lines and the plants for these products about every three to five years. So, a lot of their regulation of our food supply safety really happens through response when there are problems rather than sort of a more proactive response that the FSIS can take.
Scott: So, every three to five years compared to daily inspections? Why is the system so disparate? I mean, don’t we care about all the foods that aren’t eggs and meat?
Landman: Of course we care. The differences in the way these agencies operate is rooted in the law from which they derive their authority. The FSIS is simply mandated to do this level of inspection, while the FDA is not. And the amount of staff and funding that these agencies have to do their work corresponds to the amount of oversight that they are required to provide to our food supply.
Scott: We should say just because a government inspector isn’t visiting these manufacturers, there are inspections. How does the voluntary food inspection system work?
Landman: Yeah, so there are lots of different ways that producers of food can decide they want to maintain the safety of the product that they put out. Those producers with more resources often have a really intense and robust quality assurance process happening inside their facilities every day. So smaller producers will still have some kind of quality assurance process in place and some safety processes in place. But they may just not be as intense, they may not be quite as rigorous. They may happen on a less frequent interval. And they might just look a little bit different. For example, instead of being automated, they might be manual safety processes.
Scott: But clearly things are slipping through the cracks. And just to name an example that you covered in your recent story, Trader Joe’s has had a number of recalls over chicken soup dumplings, falafels, and pilaf. And, you know, the concerns are things like rocks and other contaminants showing up in this food. Is there something about Trader Joe’s specifically that is leading to more of these recalls than we see elsewhere?
Landman: Yeah, so Trader Joe’s gets to decide what kind of standards their food suppliers have to adhere to. And if they say, well, we’re willing to accept of somewhat looser standards of food safety among our producers, it really expands the number of producers and the number of small producers even that they can source food from. So, the variety of products and perhaps the uniqueness of the products that turn up on Trader Joe’s shelves, as a consequence, is going to be different from what you see in other grocers’ departments. But the safety approaches and perhaps the intensity of inspections and safety approaches, there is also going to be a lot of variety there.
Scott: How did Trader Joe’s respond when you ask them about these problems? Do they have a laxer standard for some of their products?
Landman: So, Trader Joe’s told me when I spoke with them back in August of last year, after a spate of recalls, that they only buy products that are produced in FDA or USDA licensed facilities. And they told me that they err on the side of caution, and they’re really proactive about addressing issues. What they did not say but what you can see when you compare the types of certifications that Trader Joe’s accepts among their food producers, with the types of certifications that say Kroger’s requires from their food producers, is that they don’t require those sorts of certifications that are on the higher end of quality assurance. And that’s not illegal. It is perfectly legal. And it’s clearly a tradeoff that consumers are in some ways, happy to accept. They may seem worth the tradeoff in some cases of having a selection of products that you really just don’t see anywhere else, because they are unique.
Scott: Companies obviously have a lot of incentive not to sell products that have contaminants in them. Recalls, I assume, are bad for business. But are those incentives strong enough? Or do you think we actually need more regulation?
Landman: I think we ultimately get the food system that we demand. If people really felt like we did not have the ability to tolerate a passive, kind of, reactive approach, then you know, there would be a little more pressure on the FDA to change things. But the FDA can’t do that without a whole lot more resources. They currently do not have what they would need to have in order to inspect plants and, you know, just meet the requirements that might be set if we really demanded a more rigorous approach to food safety in this country.
We reached out to Trader Joe’s for a comment. Below is their response:
“We meet with many producers to determine who can best deliver on food safety, capacity, quality, and price. The basic requirements for any vendor are reflected in our Potential Vendor Form.
At Trader Joe’s, nothing is more important than the health and safety of our customers and Crew Members. With this in mind, we do the daily work to make certain our products meet our stringent food safety expectations. We don’t take any chances when it comes to product safety and quality.
We have a close relationship with our vendors. We err on the side of caution and are proactive in addressing issues. We voluntarily take action quickly, aggressively investigating potential problems and removing the product from sale if there is any doubt about its safety or quality.
We value information and clear communication. Should a recall become necessary, we waste no time providing our customers with details. Our recall-related communications go well beyond regulatory requirements: we share news through in-store signs, on our website, and through email alerts.
With more than five decades of experience working directly with the producers of our products, we stand by our proactive practices and continually improve our food safety processes. We take these matters seriously — personally, even as our families eat and drink TJ’s products, too.”
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