May 13, 2008
On Thursday, May 8, a House Committee issued a "letter of inquiry," described
by many news outlets as a subpoena, on forty-nine food processing and
manufacturing companies. Reps. John D. Dingell (D-MI), Chairman of the Committee
on Energy and Commerce and Bart Stupak, Chairman of its Subcommittee on
Oversight and Investigations, inquired about recalls since the year 2000. The
Committee reportedly also asked the recipients to detail their history of
providing information regarding product failing to meet internal quality control
measures to regulators, and to list those occasions on which regulators were
denied, for any reason, access to facilities or documents. A list of the
recipients of the letter of inquiry is
available online. Responses for most recipients are due within two weeks.
In a press release, Rep. Dingell said: “We are asking the largest food
providers how often they have identified contamination by chemicals such as
mercury and microorganisms such as E. coli and salmonella during their quality
control testing procedures. We know from the Peter Pan peanut butter case and
others that internal testing by food processors often fails to detect
contaminants. Now we want to know what exactly is reported to the FDA or state
public health authorities when companies actually find dangerous chemicals and
bacteria in our food.”
This Committee has been active over the last year, holding several
high-profile hearings concerning food safety, recalls, and the adequacy of the
current regulatory oversight. Clearly, the Committee intends to continue its
focus on the issue: “Food processors have, for the most part, avoided the kind
of regulation and inspections that are imposed on drug and medical device
manufacturers,” said Stupak. “We intend to determine exactly how rigorous these
large multinational corporations have been in protecting the health of the
American consumers.” Its criticism of the regulators has been equally sharp.
“The FDA has failed to protect Americans from food poisoning and we have all
witnessed the cascade of recalls and outbreaks of food-borne illnesses that
resulted. Our investigation has examined many of these breakdowns in the food
safety net. Now it is time to determine if the owners of the largest brand names
on supermarket shelves have been forthcoming with the American people about the
safety of their products . . . Our investigation has clearly established that
the FDA lacks the leadership and the resources to keep bad food off our grocery
shelves and dinning room tables."
Food manufacturers should expect increased regulatory and political interest
in the issue as the 2008 elections approach.