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98% of Food Imported by the U.S is Not Inspected for Food Safety

by Medindia Content Team on Apr 18 2007 8:36 PM

Washington-It is estimated that only a small percentage of food imported into the United States is actually inspected. Further, the 1.3% that is inspected reveal contaminations of some form or the other. What happens to the rest of the food that escapes inspection?

Recently, the United States has been reeling under the effect of contaminated food, which also instigated a pet food recall. This could also be due to lenient food laws in the countries from where the food is imported. When such foods escape the attention of Food safety authorities, it makes it a ready recipe for food contamination.

"FDA doesn't have enough resources or control over this situation presently," said Mike Doyle, director of the University of Georgia's Center for Food Safety.

Only 1.3 percent of the imported food is inspected. The remaining 98.7 percent is not inspected, and ends up contaminating the diet of Americans. Majority of the imported food comes from the European Union, Canada and Mexico. China is also seen to be catching up with food exports. China supplies nearly 3.3% of the total food imported by the United States. Nearly 200 Chinese shipments have been stopped by the FDA lately.

Source-Medindia
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