Food safety net is torn, inefficient

Federal regulators recently set up a new electronic database for companies to report potential food safety problems and a new Web site for consumers to learn about product recalls and relay concerns of their own. Both are welcome, but neither is a substitute for what’s really needed — an overhaul of the nation’s outdated, fragmented inspection process.

In recent years,  Americans have been forced to wade through wave after wave of recalls of domestic and imported food. Infant formula, peanuts and peanut butter, various types of vegetables, meat, poultry and fish, and even pet food have been pulled from store shelves because of bacterial or chemical contamination.

In many of those cases, the contamination didn’t become apparent until people or animals fell ill or died. The problems weren’t detected in the inspection process — if they were inspected at all — and manufacturers and distributors were slow to react to reports of sickness.

The two new electronic resources should help spread the word more quickly.

Under a 2007 law passed by Congress, food companies are required to report potential problems with contamination within 24 hours . The electronic database should enable regulators to spot trends sooner and respond more swiftly.

The Web site, www.foodsafety.gov , draws together recall notices and advice to consumers from various government agencies and makes them available at one location. 

But the biggest impediment to avoiding repeated outbreaks is the antiquated system under which regulators operate. Exhibit A: The U.S. Department of Agriculture inspects about 20 percent of the food supply, with the Food and Drug Administration handling the remainder, yet the USDA receives most of the funding.

A decade ago, the Government Accountability Office — the investigative arm of Congress — called for a single agency to monitor food safety.

 This summer, the House of Representatives passed a bill that would shift more funding and authority to the FDA and require more frequent inspection of processing plants, among other things. It may be an imperfect solution, but it’s a step toward restructuring.

But the measure has stalled in the Senate, and — given the many issues on the public agenda, including the fractious debate over health care reform —  prospects  look slim .

The Obama administration needs to nudge the effort along . There’s been a lull in major recalls in recent months, but it would be foolish to  assume that minor tinkering by regulators and a couple of new electronic tools are sufficient to close all the holes in the safety net.

Americans can’t reasonably expect the government to protect them from all sources of harm. But it is reasonable to expect government to do its job as efficiently as possible, especially when that would help ensure that food on grocery store shelves, from domestic and foreign sources, won’t sicken or kill.