gross huh?

Imported food leaving bad taste

Sunday, August 19, 2007

By ALEX PULASKI

Newhouse News Service

In the past year, federal inspectors have found salmonella in Hershey's Kisses imported from Mexico, illegal pesticides and toxic compounds in peanut butter from India and scores of shipments of Chinese seafood tainted by unsafe animal drugs, unregistered pesticides or salmonella.

As the world turns into a huge buffet line for the American appetite, consumers face increasingly tough decisions about what export countries and food products pose higher risks of making them sick, while government inspectors struggle to protect and inform them. Mandatory country-of-origin labeling, passed by Congress in 2002, has been delayed under pressure by meat packers and retailers, leaving consumers with limited information about where their food might come from.

But an analysis by The Oregonian newspaper of Portland, Ore., points out some danger spots - food exports and exporting countries that have cropped up most often with problem inspections.

Overall, vegetable products, followed by seafood and fruit, were most often rejected. Most of the refused products had been subject to "import alerts," meaning that federal inspectors had noticed a pattern of problems, requiring that shipments be held unless proven safe.

Specifically, The Oregonian's analysis of U.S. Food and Drug Administration records shows that food items most often refused entry over the past year (and the most common reasons for the refusals) included:

Candy (filth), dried peppers (filth) and cantaloupes (salmonella) from Mexico.

Spices (salmonella) from India.

Vegetables (pesticides) from the Dominican Republic.

Seafood (animal drugs, pesticides, salmonella) from China.

Domestic foods carry their own dangers - such as recent outbreaks of salmonella in peanut butter and E. coli in spinach. But risks of imports have spilled into the public consciousness this year since a lethal chemical additive from China showed up in pet food, the U.S. government cracked down on Chinese farmed fish, and China-made toothpaste was found to contain a poisonous chemical....