Food imports seldom checked
FDA很少对进口食品检查

Odds favor rogue producers over underfunded, understaffed FDA, critics say

By Diedtra Henderson, Globe Staff  |  May 1, 2007

WASHINGTON -- Rogue exporters have had little trouble shipping suspect products into the United States because the chances of being caught by an underfunded and understaffed Food and Drug Administration are slim.

由于被人力财力均显不足的FDA抓住的可能性微乎其微，劣质出口商几乎不费周折就能将可疑产品运入美国。

Critics say the massive pet food recall that has triggered scores of lawsuits is also the result of an FDA wedded to an outdated approach to food safety despite the emergence of new pathogens and globalization of the nation's food supply.

批评者说，大量宠物食品召回已经引发了多起法律诉讼。召回事件也是FDA固守过时的食品安全管理办法的结果，尽管出现了新的病原体，而且美国的食品供应已经呈现全球化特点。

As a consequence, the nation has become a dumping ground for suspect imports, critics say, because suppliers know there's not much chance of being discovered by FDA inspectors.

批评者说美国已成为可以进口食品的倾销地，因为供应商知道被FDA检查人员发现的可能性不大。

Since 1997 , FDA officials say, they have examined just 1 to 1.5 percent of food imports, while shipments skyrocketed from more than 4 million entries in 1997 to more than 15 million in 2006 . Meanwhile, the FDA's regulatory affairs staff is getting leaner -- it shrank from a high of 4,003 full-time employees in the 2003 fiscal year to 3,488 this fiscal year. As a result, non criminal foreign and domestic inspections carried out by FDA Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition staffers amounted to 9,038 in 2005 , down from 11,566 just two years earlier.

FDA的官员说，自1997年以来，它们只对进口食品的1～1.5%进行了检查，可是美国的食品进口已经从1997年的400多万项增加到2006年的1500多万项。于此同时，FDA的日常工作人员却在不断减少，从2003财政年度的4003名全职雇员减少到本财政年度的3488名。因此，FDA的食品安全和应用营养学中心的工作人员对国产和进口食品进行的非刑事检查总共只有9038次，而两年前为11566次。

The FDA rarely rejects such food ingredients from China, according to an AP analysis. They simply don't rank high on the agency's priority list of items to inspect, former employees say. And even if an inspector rejects ingredients at one port, the supplier can simply gamble that another port will not be so vigilant.

根据美联社的一篇新闻分析，FDA很少退回从中国进口的食品原料。FDA的前雇员说，这些食品原料根本不在管理局重点检查的主要名单之列。而且即使一名检查人员在一个港口退回了食品原料，供应商可以冒险赌一把，指望下一个港口不这么警觉。