Congressional investigations found that the FDA is only inspecting less than one percent of the imported foods.
In fact, in addition, the House Committee learned that the FDA is only sampling a fraction of the less than one percent of the inspected imported food shipments coming into the U.S.
After all of the recent reports of safety issues of tainted human foods, toothpaste nonfood additives, and nonconsumable dog and cat food replacement ingredients, all being imported from China, the U.S. lawmakers in Washington are getting more involved.
Food safety has become an issue within the U.S. grown foods as well.
However, the imported food industry has nearly doubled in growth, whereas the number of FDA inspectors continues to decrease since 2003, according David Nelson, an investigator for the House Energy and Commerce investigative subcommittee.
Some FDA labs were getting ready to be closed. Congress is putting the brakes on that action, even though the FDA claimed that budgetary restraints had effected these changes.
Congress is introducing a bill for FDA funding this week, which lawmakers stated lobbying was underway to include last-minute changes to stop the FDA from closing any of its labs.
