Food Safety Fact Sheet: Voluntary Recalls Don't Protect Consumers from Bad Food

CSPI REPORTS

Voluntary Recalls Don't Protect Consumers from Bad Food

Give Federal Food Safety Agencies Mandatory Recall Authority

Right now, the federal government has no authority to force companies to take contaminated food off the market after a food-poisoning outbreak or after a problem is discovered. Both the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which inspects meat and poultry, and the Food and Drug Administration, which inspects all other foods, must rely on voluntary cooperation by food companies to get contaminated food out of supermarkets, restaurants, and consumers' homes. But the facts show that voluntary recalls aren't protecting consumers.

Recalls of Contaminated Meat and Poultry: Too often, contaminated meat and poultry that has been recalled is not recovered by the company that produced it. That means unknowing consumers could be vulnerable to food poisoning from bad meat that stays on the market.

In 1996, just 57% of all recalled meat and poultry was recovered. USDA requested that companies recall 807,027 pounds of potentially contaminated meat and poultry. But only 459,316 pounds were recovered. (USDA's data for 1996 are not yet complete.)

In 1995, only 23% of all recalled meat and poultry was recovered. USDA requested that companies recall over 5.5 million pounds of meat and poultry. Only a little more than one million pounds were recovered.

In 1994, only 28% of all recalled meat and poultry was recovered. USDA requested that more than 4.7 million pounds of meat and poultry be recalled, but only 1.3 million pounds were recovered.

Recalls of Food Regulated by FDA: Every year, FDA requests scores of voluntary recalls for hazardous foods. In 1997 so far, FDA has issued 138 recalls of food that could pose a health risk. Here are just a few examples:

Over 2 million jars of Gerber baby food were recalled for high levels of arsenic.

Over 5 million pounds of potato salad potentially contaminated with the bacteria Listeria monocytogenes were recalled.

In one week, 20 separate recalls were issued for over 1.2 million pounds of raw unshucked shellfish contaminated with Norwalk virus.

Unfortunately, FDA has no way of informing consumers whether any of its recalls were successful. Not only must FDA rely on food companies to voluntarily recall tainted food, the agency is so understaffed that it cannot even routinely monitor whether companies are actually cooperating with recalls. FDA conducts only random audits of compliance with recalls.

Just this summer, companies failed to recall all potentially contaminated food in two separate recalls:

In June, FDA had to repeat recall warnings about more than one million containers of hummus dips and salads produced by Cedar's Mediterranean Foods, Inc., when the company did not remove all the containers from the market. The hummus was recalled for potential contamination with the Listeria bacteria.

In August, FDA tried to recall Royal Line brand smoked salmon also because of contamination with the Listeria bacteria. FDA could not even estimate how much salmon was on the market because the distributor refused to cooperate with the recall.

Protect consumers from the risk of food-poisoning illnesses and deaths. Support legislation giving mandatory recall authority to FDA and USDA.

For more information, contact: Elizabeth Dahl, 202-332-9110, ext 339