FDA Needs to Carry More Food Inspections, Says Report

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) needs to strengthen inspections of food producing plants, with many going more than five years without being checked, a government investigator said.

According to a report from the Department of Health and Human Services, food safety violations are not always properly addressed by the FDA, which oversees 80% of the US food supply.

The federal agency can assign a facility with the most serious food safety or regulatory infractions – an official action indicated (OAI) classification – but failed to take any regulatory action against 25% of such facilities in 2007, the report said.

The report found nearly 36% of facilities with an OAI classification did not receive any follow up from the FDA to ensure the violations were corrected.

An estimated 76 million people in the US get sick every year with foodborne illness and 5,000 die while health-related expenses annually cost the country $152bn.