Straining to keep up with market globalization, the Food and Drug Administration inspects just 1.3 percent of imported foods, the AP reports.
And much of that 1.3 percent is contaminated.
Consider this list of Chinese products detained by the FDA just in the last month: frozen catfish tainted with illegal veterinary drugs, fresh ginger polluted with pesticides, melon seeds contaminated with a cancer-causing toxin and filthy dried dates.
Ew.
The remaining 98.7 of food imported into the United States is not inspected at all. Instead, it goes straight to the market. Imports now account for 13 percent of food consumed in America annually.
Even foods that are considered "safe" can contain hidden contaminants. If the wheat gluten now suspected to be responsible for pet sicknesses and deaths across the U.S. had been inspected, it would not have been tested for melamine, because melamine isn't (or wasn't) considered "toxic."
Photo: hober via Flickr
