Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
that his state has had a historically poor record of reporting food-borne
illnesses.
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In an attempt to partially fi ll the gap in inspections, some industries
have instituted their own inspection programs to reassure consumers.
They are paying other government agencies to do what the FDA rarely
does: muck through fi elds and pore over records to make sure food is
handled properly. In California, the leafy greens industry, which grows
spinach and lettuce, pays the state so that inspectors can inspect farm
fi elds for safety. Arizona created a similar leafy greens agreement, and
there are plans to expand it nationwide. Other food industries have
expressed interest in the leafy greens model. They realize they cannot sit
back and wait for the bacterial outbreaks that have hit the leafy greens
people in recent years. Since the program started in 2007, there have
been no new outbreaks tied to California leafy greens.
The FDA inspects less than 1 percent of the food it is responsible for,
much of it imported fruits and vegetables, commonly from countries
whose standards of cleanliness are much lower than those in the United
States, particularly for seafood and fresh produce.
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More than 130
countries ship food to the United States, many of them in the Third
World and with substandard inspection systems (table 5.4). The share
of import violations attributed to low-income countries increased from
12 percent in 1998, to 15 percent in 2002, to 18 percent in 2004, while
the share from lower middle-income countries has also risen. During the
same period, violations by wealthier countries have declined.
In 2006 we imported 15 percent of our food from developing coun-
tries. The value of imported food increased by more than 60 percent
between 2002 and 2007. More than 80 percent of the seafood consumed
in the United States is imported, mainly from Asia, where aquaculture
practices often involve using raw domestic sewage or livestock manure
as feed, as well as the use of pesticides and antibiotics not approved in
the United States.
Imports from China are of particular concern because of their rapid
increase in recent years. China's imports formed 6 percent of our food
imports in 2008 and were valued at $5.2 billion, up from only $1.2
billion in 2000.
29
The country is now the third largest source of food
imports to the United States, behind Canada and Mexico. In 2008, fi sh
and shellfi sh, mostly products of aquaculture, formed 41 percent of their
imports, with juices and other products of fruits and vegetables adding
34 percent. China accounted for 60 percent of the U.S. supply of apple
juice, more than 50 percent of the garlic supply, and 10 percent of the
shrimp and catfi sh supply.
