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The FDA, part of the US Department of Health and Human Services, is responsible for safeguarding the country's food supply. However, there have been growing concerns that under-funding at the department is putting American consumers at risk.
There have been a number of recent food scares and recalls. Spinach grown in California was found to be contaminated with E coli in 2006, salmonella-tainted peanut butter caused many people to be hospitalised in February 2007 and in March 2007 contaminated pet food lead to the deaths of a number of animals, probably from contaminants in vegetable proteins imported into the United States from China.
This week the FDA said it is requesting a budget increase of $42.4m to protect America's food supply, taking the total for the Protecting America's Food Supply Initiative to $662 million.
This increase, it said, will assist in implementing a series of initiatives announced in 2007, including the Food Protection Plan, the Action Plan for Import Safety, and announced agreements with governmental agencies in China on food and medical product safety initiatives.
The Grocery Manufacturers Association said that additional funding for food safety was not enough and "only covers cost of inflation".
"Congress must make a commensurate investment in FDA's food-related programs so that the FDA has the resources it needs to fulfil its critical food safety mission," it said.
Moreover a spokesperson for the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) said that once other costs have been taken out, the requested increase amounts to only $32 million for food safety initiatives.
Food Safety Director for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, Caroline Smith DeWaal, said this translates into a bare-bones increase of only $2 million when adjusted for the agency's typical inflationary cost.
"The Bush Administration's 'food protection' initiative is little more than shadow boxing against unsafe imports," she said.
The requested budget is being seen as particularly disappointing given the political attention food safety has attracted.
At a press conference in the US Capitol in December 2007 Senator Dick Durbin (Illinois), Senator Edward M Kennedy (Massachusetts) and representatives from the food industry and customer interest groups, called on the White House to increase FDA food safety resources.
Senator Durbin was quoted by food groups as saying: "For years, Congress has pointed out that the FDA is understaffed and under funded….I am calling on the Administration to commit to doubling FDA funding over the next five years. We simply cannot leave American families vulnerable when it comes to food safety."
According to the GMA, a week before that conference a subcommittee of the FDA's Science Board had released a report detailing how under funding was jeopardizing the agency's ability to protect the food supply.
