Sun editorial:

Protecting our food supply

The increasing outbreaks of tainted food show new inspection system is needed

Friday, Feb. 13, 2009 | 2:09 a.m.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack struck a chord with us last week when he said food safety should be the province of one federal agency.

As it stands, the Agriculture Department inspects meat and poultry. Most other foods come under the jurisdiction of the Food and Drug Administration, whose budget for testing drugs far outweighs its budget for inspecting food.

Vilsack’s call came amid the ongoing salmonella outbreak, which has been traced to an unsanitary Peanut Corp. of America plant in rural Georgia.

Strong criticisms have arisen that a fair portion of blame for the increasing number of food poisoning cases rests with the federal government.

That blame surfaced Wednesday at a congressional hearing attended by Peanut Corp.’s president, Stewart Parnell, who had been subpoenaed. Parnell refused to testify.

But members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee had plenty to say after hearing from victims of the salmonella outbreak. “We’re going to (strengthen the food inspection system) in your loved ones’ memories,” Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo, told them.

Despite previous calls from several members of Congress to strengthen food inspections through consolidation, the Bush administration just added to the problem. The New York Times wrote last month: “As food imports have soared, the number of inspectors has declined as budgets have been cut.”

Restoring trust is Vilsack’s goal. “You can’t have two systems and be able to reassure people you’ve got the job covered,” he said. We support that view because the current system is riddled with inanity.

Frozen pizzas are an example. If they are cheese pizzas, the FDA inspects them. If they have meat on them, the Agriculture Department gets the job.

Ten years ago the Government Accountability Office wrote in a report: “The fragmented system was not developed under any rational plan but was patched together ... (causing) inconsistent and inflexible oversight ...”

We hope Vilsack’s support for consolidation does not lose its momentum in the crush of the economic priorities. Federal statistics show that 76 million Americans get food poisoning every year, with 5,000 of them dying. Creating one modern food-protection agency and giving it an appropriate budget would help lower those figures.