IG report finds holes in food-tracing system

The government is ill-equipped to deal with a bioterrorism attack or an outbreak of food-borne illness because the system used to trace food products is ineffective, according to a government report released Thursday.

The Health and Human Services Department inspector general's office purchased 40 different food products from retail shelves, but investigators could trace only five of them through each stage of the food-supply chain.

In four of the 40 cases, investigators could not even identify facilities likely to have handled the food.

"In these cases, at least one facility in the food supply chain failed to provide any information about the potential sources of the products," the report said.

"Traceability today simply is not good enough," House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee Chairwoman Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., said at a subcommittee hearing on the report Thursday. "We have a responsibility, in the event of a food-borne illness outbreak, to effectively find the source of contamination as quickly as possible to prevent further illness and even death."

Food facilities are required by law to maintain information about where products and ingredients come from, where they go and how they get there. But over 50 percent of facilities did not meet the requirements, and a full 25 percent were completely unaware the rules existed.

"These factors affect [the Food and Drug Administration's] ability to identify the source of a contamination and remove unsafe food products from the food supply chain," HHS Inspector General Daniel Levinson told the subcommittee.

Levinson said problems occur when companies do not keep information about specific lots of food products and that some facilities -- including distributors, wholesalers, and food-storage facilities -- are exempt from the requirements. He added that products are often mixed with other products from a large number of different farms.

The report recommended that FDA ask for greater authority to require food producers and handlers to keep better records, particularly to track specific lots. Investigators also recommended granting FDA the authority to request access to food records at any time. Under existing rules, the agency can look at a company's data only if the government has reasonable grounds to believe there might be contamination.