By the Numbers

—According to the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), since 1997 only about 24% of seafood firms are complying with food safety regulations as required by the FDA. Caroline Smith DeWaal, Food Safety Director of the CSPI, recently reported 30% of seafood companies inspected have either inadequate HACCP plans or have failed to implement HACCP at all. About 16% of seafood processors had no HACCP plan, 24% had HACCP plans considered adequate by the FDA and 30% of seafood plants are inexplicably not required to have any HACCP plan. In direct comparison, meat and poultry plants, which are regulated by the USDA, have nearly 100% HACCP compliance and mandate daily onsite inspections and microbial testing. Seafood firms, however, are regulated by the FDA and are inspected at most once a year. They have no mandatory microbial testing system in place.

—According to recent reports, the USDA has suspended importation of meat from several meat and poultry plants in six out of 15 foreign countries, due to various health and safety code violations found at the plants. Those plants banned from importation were found to have hair and fecal contamination on meat, inadequate handwashing facilities for employees, failure to conduct random bacterial tests, and no government inspectors. The U.S. inspected 147 meat and poultry plants out of 1,066 in 15 foreign countries between 1998 and 1999. Of the countries inspected, Mexico had five unaccepted or decertified plants, France had seven, Finland had three declared unacceptable, Denmark had one, two out of 14 Brazilian plants were decertified and Uruguay had one. For the year beginning October 1, 1998, these six countries were responsible for exporting 279 million pounds of meat and poultry to the U.S. (Note: Every meat and poultry plant in the six countries with the highest proportion of decertified plants was not inspected by the USDA.)

—According to a recent article in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), between 1998 and 1999 obesity among Americans rose an incredible 6%. The article “The Continuing Epidemic of Obesity in the United States”, reports obesity is rapidly increasing in all age groups, including both sexes and is expanding across all socioeconomic lines. The American Obesity Association responded to the JAMA article by releasing their own statistics, claiming that presently obesity affects 20% of adults and 10-15% of children. The Association further stated that nearly 30% of adults and 10-14% of children are overweight and at risk of becoming obese.

—The USDA recently announced an increase in the fees associated with voluntary meat, poultry, and egg product inspection services. Beginning October 8, 2000, the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) costs of meat and poultry voluntary inspection, identification and certification services will increase from $37.88 to $38.44 per hour per employee; meat, egg and poultry overtime and holiday inspection services will jump from $39.76 to $41 per hour per employee; and laboratory services will increase from $58.52 to $60.04 per hour per employee. The current fee structure was implemented in October, 1999 and will be reviewed by the FSIS every fiscal year to account for any necessary price adjustments.

—The U.S. House of Representatives recently approved the following Federal food- and agriculture-related budgets for fiscal 2001: Food Safety and Inspection Service: $696.7 milion (up 7%) Food and Drug Administration: $68 billion (up 5%) Agricultural Research Serivce: $973.0 milion (up 10%)