US relies on states to inspect food

A Kentucky National Guardsman writes ''do not issue'' on ready-to-eat meals for ice storm victims. The meals may have packets of salmonella-tainted peanut butter in them. (Daniel R. Patmore/Associated Press)

WASHINGTON - The US government has increasingly relied on food-safety inspections performed by states, where budgets for inspections in many cases have remained stagnant and where overburdened officials are trained less than their federal counterparts and perform skimpier reviews, an Associated Press investigation has found.

The thoroughness of inspections performed by states has emerged as a key issue in the investigation of the national salmonella outbreak traced to a peanut processing plant in Blakely, Ga. The outbreak, which has highlighted weaknesses in the nation's food-safety system, is blamed for 600 illnesses and at least eight deaths in 44 states.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee issued a subpoena yesterday for Peanut Corp. of America president Stewart Parnell, who had said he would not appear at a hearing scheduled for today.

State investigators performed more than half the Food and Drug Administration's food inspections in 2007, according to an AP analysis of FDA data. That represents a dramatic rise from a decade ago, when FDA investigators performed three out of four of the federal government's inspections. The Agriculture Department is responsible for meat and dairy safety.

Increased inspection responsibilities have not been accompanied by big spending increases in many states responsible for the bulk of US food production.

The FDA covers some costs for states to perform inspections. But in Pennsylvania and Ohio, for example, each state's own food safety spending increased only slightly since 2003, less than the rate of inflation; in California and Massachusetts, just barely more than inflation; and in New Jersey, spending has remained about the same. Those are among states with the largest numbers of food-processing plants.

"It clearly is a passing the buck kind of thing and somebody is dropping the buck along the way," said Cornell University food safety professor Joseph Hotchkiss.

A Georgia health inspector noted only two minor violations at the Peanut Corp. of America plant in October, and inspection reports indicate officials spent no more than a few hours inside the plant during visits. But after the FDA became suspicious of the plant's role in the outbreak months later, it found roaches, mold, a leaking roof, and other sanitation problems.

"To say that food safety in this country is a patchwork system is giving it too much credit," said Senator Tom Harkin, an Iowa Democrat and chairman of the Agriculture Committee. "Food safety in America has become a hit or miss gamble, and that is truly frightening. It's time to find the gaps in the system and remedy them."

The FDA never followed up on the Georgia inspections because the problems discovered by the state "were considered to be somewhat resolved," Michael Chappell, head of the FDA's enforcement division, said at a congressional hearing last week.

The FDA relied on Georgia to inspect the Peanut Corp. plant between 2006 and 2008, just as it relies on other states. But Georgia failed to identify problems, even as the company's own internal testing repeatedly found salmonella in its products.