Food safety time: while we’re often criticizing the USDA’s inspection program, queervegan sent in an article on the deficiencies in the FDA’s programs. OK, this might seem confusing, so here’s the 2 second, 40,000 foot view (which, incidentally, is a heck of an acceleration, sorry for not warning you first): the FDA’s initials stand for Food and Drug Administration, and among other things, they monitor for food safety. Well, some food safety. The USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) takes care of most animal products, which, I suppose, furthers my case that animal products aren’t food, but whatever.
So the FDA is the one that has to worry about the bad spinach batches and whatnot, and it turns out they knew about some of these potential problems well in advance but didn’t get around to them in time to stop deadly outbreaks from happening. As an exception to my earlier comments on the USDA/FDA split, the FDA looks after pork, and there are some problems coming up now where hog feed is being laced with the same stuff that’s been causing the pet food recalls. In all, the FDA is responsible for keeping 60 to 80 thousand facilities in line, and in the meantime, their budget is decreasing.
The thing of it is, I can’t find a spin for this story that’s either pro- or anti-vegan. It just is, and it seems to be getting worse. Short of growing 100% of your own food, there doesn’t seem to be a lot you can do to reduce your exposure to contaminated problems if you live in the USA. As this is depressing as all hell, someone should get a cat picture into the comments ASAP.
