DEJA VU ALL OVER AGAIN?
The outbreaks tied to PCA's salmonella-tainted peanut products and Jensen Farms' deadly cantaloupes reignited criticism of the FDA's dependence on so-called third-party auditors -- who essentially are the U.S. safety system's soldiers on the front lines.
Those auditors, who are paid by the companies they audit, gave high marks to both PCA and Jensen Farms.
Under the new food safety law, FDA still has no specific authority to take action against third-party auditors operating domestically, though the agency has the right to take action for auditors certifying imported products.
"There is no effective oversight in the United States" said Caroline Smith DeWaal, food safety director at the Center for Science in the Public Interest. "Auditors are not accountable, and their results may not be worth the paper they are written on."
"One of the inherent flaws with the system is that it has become a commodity market for audits," said David Acheson, a former FDA associate commissioner of foods who now is a managing director at Leavitt Partners, a consulting firm.
The ongoing listeria outbreak has been gut-wrenching for people advocating on behalf of family members who have died.
"I was hoping it would never happen again, and it won't be the last one," said Napier.
Experts say further changes likely will follow new tragedies.
"When people die, folks pay attention. It's such an uncivilized way to make progress, but it's the reality," Acheson said. (Reporting by Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles and additional reporting by Keith Coffman in Denver; Editing by Bernard Orr and Maureen Bavdek)
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