Guest Blogger: Elisa in Wonkland Posted by Reggie at 03/23/07 12:49 PM

I was asked by the FDA to speak at its well-attended hearing in Oakland yesterday on the safety of fresh fruits and vegetables. I felt like Alice stepping through the looking glass. As a consumer advocate and parent, I view the government’s role in protecting the public (my kids included) quite differently than the other witnesses with whom I shared the dais.

On my side of the glass, regular folks are concerned that we have endured nearly two dozen illness outbreaks in the last ten years due to microbial contamination of leafy greens, the most notable of which was in spinach last September, which sickened 200 and killed at least three people.

Despite the 10 year history of clearly established risks, FDA does not require that farmers, processors and distributors of produce follow any mandatory safety standards. Mandatory oversight of this industry seems like a no-brainer. FDA should also beef up its facility inspections, pre-market food testing, and enforcement of good agricultural and management practices for farms and processors. But the view is quite different on the FDA /industry side of the glass.

I arrived at the March 20th FDA hearing at 9 am and sat down to over three hours of the most wonky presentations about government taskforces and rates of contamination. Clearly, FDA lives in a world far different than the average consumer. The agenda stated that I was scheduled to provide “the consumer perspective” at 11:15 am, after FDA heard from representatives from the Center for Disease Control, several FDA people, the head of the California Department of Health Services, a representative from the Association of Food and Drug Officials, and a spokesman from the agriculture industry (Western Growers—the group that is pushing forward a voluntary marketing agreement in California).

I knew my testimony would probably shake up the place -- its tone and content were vastly different from anyone who spoke before me. I planned to tell FDA that it has utterly failed to safeguard the food supply and failed to hold the industry accountable for bringing contaminated produce to market, sickening and killing consumers.

When it came my turn to speak, the FDA panel skipped over me and called up another FDA wonk. I immediately got up and walked to the back of the room and told the FDA representative at the door that I’d been skipped over. He took me to the event coordinator. She said that they hadn’t been able to find me. Oh yeah. I’d checked in when I arrived and I’d been sitting right there in a centrally located place in an aisle seat for more than three hours waiting to testify. Furthermore, I had my FDA speaker’s name tag prominently displayed on my lapel. This was 12:15 and they were supposed to break for an hour and a half lunch break at noon.

The woman from FDA told me that I could go on later. I told her that I couldn’t go on later as I had another meeting, so I’d have to go on now. She took a hand-written note down to the front of the room and handed it to the FDA panelist. After the FDA official finished up her talk about rates of contamination, I was called up and gave my speech. Afterward, many media folks and audience members agreed with my statement. Even the FDA panelist told me in passing that I’d said it “just right.” But this same panelist told the media that FDA is going to let the voluntary industry self-regulated approach have a chance to work (as though it hasn’t had its chance for decades and failed). He also said that he expects more outbreaks from contaminated produce in 2007 -- our tax dollars at work.

It’s a strange reality indeed where the FDA encourages us to eat raw fruits and vegetables to promote good health and prevent disease, but admits that it is not going to require the industry to follow safety standards that will ensure the safety of fruits and vegetables. FDA seems not to understand that people will be reluctant to take their advice to eat more fruits and veggies for fear of getting sick or dying from contaminated raw foods. I was pleased to see lots of people from my side of the looking glass at the hearing. It will probably take many more regular folks breathing down FDA’s neck at the next hearing to get them to do their job to safeguard fresh produce. It will be held in College Park, Maryland in April – Friday the 13th to be precise – how’s that for scary?

Elisa Odabashian, Director
Consumers Union
West Coast office

comments (6)

1 Posted by Mike Emigh at 04/26/07 09:44 AM

I am a long time member of Consumers Union. I think Consumers Union is one of the finest organizations in the US focused on educating the consumer on a variety of products and services. This is the first time I have felt compelled to respond to individual statements by a representative of Consumers Union.

I take issue with your stance that the food produced and sold in America is bad for consumers and should be regulated by yet another government agency. Serious food borne illnesses in the United States are extremely rare considering that Americans annually eat 200 billion pounds of fruits and vegetables produced here. Perhaps you should refocus your efforts on the $90 billion of food imported from around the world that arrives mostly uninspected on our shores, something much more difficult to control and potentially more dangerous than California spinach.

The leafy green marketing order can be successful in providing consumers a level of comfort that good agricultural practices and good manufacturing practices are being used on American farms and in American food processing plants. The vast majority of American farmers and food processors are people like you and I, interested in producing a safe inexpensive product for consumers. A safe product is much more efficiently produced if each industry is allowed to identify food safety issues and deal with them in the most cost effective method.

I am the President of an agricultural cooperative in California. Our industry is governed by a California state marketing order. We have successfully self-regulated since 1954. There have been no incidences of food borne illnesses caused by any product we produce. The last thing American consumers need is a “TSA of Food” adding more costs to the food we eat. We have outsourced just about every product formerly produced in America because of the high cost of production here. We don’t want to outsource all of our food. Remember, most of that food it not inspected for any hazards.

2 Posted by Robin Kash at 04/27/07 08:45 AM

Eat Local, Grow Your Own!

Your experience with the FDA and its minions is yet another prompting for us to look for locally grown products. If we get bad stuff, we know where to turn and can take measures to correct things.

Articles/columns/regular features on gardening, food preservation (canning, freezing, drying)would be in order to CU.

Thanks for efforts, despite continuing inertia among those commissioned to keep a wary eye out for the lax and slack among food producers and distributors.

Maybe it only seems that our government has become increasingly disfunctional in the past six years. But as the administration keeps trying to teach us: appearance is reality.

Blessings!

3 Posted by HelloWorld at 04/28/07 05:22 AM

Peace people

We love you

4 Posted by Brad at 05/10/07 03:51 PM

I am all in favor of mandatory safety regulations for food production and handling. At the same time though, it is only fair that the importation of all food products including fruits, vegetables, meat and dairy meet the same high standards. What good does it do to require withdraw times for pesticides and antibiotics for domestically raised food if we allow the importation of the very same products without. Most 3rd world countries are still using pesticides that were banned here, spray at higher concentrations, dismiss pre-harvest warnings and spray more often then recommended.
The recent melamine poisoning is a good example of how other countries with their lax regulations can sell us products that are not suitable for consumption.
Just as an observation from local production. Why are local producers not required to provide adequate clean sanitation facilities for their workers? Humans defecating in fields, and handling food without washing their hands is not good. All farm workers should be screened for contagious diseases? They are handling fresh food products.

5 Posted by Amanda at 07/16/07 05:02 PM

i had a question regarding the last comment and local production. it comes as a surprise to me to hear that local farms aren't required to provide bathrooms for their workers. that's more "natural" than I'd like!
Brad, do you have a source for that?

6 Posted by Franklin Snyder at 08/31/07 09:20 AM

Your story is so fimilar and stirs my frustration with these goverment, and private entities who are manipulative about the truth getting out.

But that is what's living in this country is all about. Men and women have giving their lives for this since the beginning of time. "Freedom of Speech and the Pursuit of Happiness"!

Blessings!!