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Senior Citizen Alerts

Consumers Endangered by Confusing Food Safety Regulation, Communications

All recalled Castleberry’s products here from combining FDA, USDA and company recalls

By Tucker Sutherland, editor & publisher
SeniorJournal.com

July 25, 2007 - SeniorJournal.com has attempted to keep senior citizens well informed about the serious threat of botulism from canned food products manufactured by Castleberry’s Food Company, but the U.S. government’s system of monitoring food safety has made it difficult. Different recall lists have been issued by the Food and Drug Administration, Department of Agriculture and the company. It highlights what many see as a major weakness in the government’s responsibility to protect consumers from dangerous food products, and to keep them informed.

“Canned goods that are being recalled now are foods that fall squarely in the middle of our two food safety agencies' regulatory authority,” says. Caroline Smith DeWaal, Food Safety Director for the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

“Does it make sense that USDA-regulated plants are inspected daily, and FDA-inspected facilities are looked at rarely?

“Does it really make sense to have one cabinet secretary in charge of chili with beans and another cabinet secretary in charge of chili with meat?

“Members of Congress should realize that as serious as the problems originating with Chinese imports are, our own food safety system has serious gaps that urgently need closing.

The original FDA news release on July 18 on the potential crisis named just three products that were being recalled by the agency. It did mention that the company was recalling a total of ten products and that a number of these products “are not under FDA’s regulatory authority.”

It made no mention of additional monitoring by the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS).

On July 21, a Saturday, the FDA issued a new release saying, “The agency is expanding its warning based in part on FDA test results and information obtained during a joint FDA and U.S. Department of Agriculture inspection of the Castleberry’s facility in Augusta, Ga.”

“In addition,” FDA noted, “Castleberry's is recalling other products containing meat, which are regulated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. USDA is also warning the public not to eat certain brands of Castleberry's products containing meat. The list of these USDA-regulated products can be viewed at this link to the USDA website.”

In both news releases, the FDA did include a link to the Castleberry’s Food Website, where the most complete list was being maintained. It included all products being recalled by the company either voluntarily or at the request of one of the two government services.

The news release by the USDA’s FSIS said, the recall is “being expanded to include all meatless products produced at the plant that might still be in commerce.”

The release included a long list of products and a reference back to the FDA for their recalls.

No doubt many reporters were confused as they tried to check and compare the products recalls from the three different sources. Few news sources were trying to produce a complete list, which may have been due to their confusion.

FSIS says it “is the public health agency in the U.S. Department of Agriculture responsible for ensuring that the nation's commercial supply of meat, poultry, and egg products is safe, wholesome, and correctly labeled and packaged.”

The FDA on the other hand has jurisdiction over recalls involving food, as well as pet and farm animal feed.

Most may be surprised to find the FDA monitoring farm animal feed, while the USDA is monitoring meat, poultry and egg products.

FDA states it “is the federal agency responsible for ensuring that foods are safe, wholesome and sanitary; human and veterinary drugs, biological products, and medical devices are safe and effective; cosmetics are safe; and electronic products that emit radiation are safe.”

Then, too, there is the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, which is charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risks of serious injury or death from more than 15,000 types of consumer products under the agency's jurisdiction.

CPSC says it “is committed to protecting consumers and families from products that pose a fire, electrical, chemical, or mechanical hazard or can injure children.”

There is also the federal government’s consumer information Website, Consumer.gov, which has no mention – as of today – of this highly important food recall.

But, another government Website, Recalls.gov, does have links to the FDA and USDA recalls in their food section.

The feds also provide us with another site, FoodSafety.gov, which does not show any information about the Castleberry’s recalls. In their front page highlights the only FDA recall linked is a pet food recall from March. There is a link from this site to FDA news releases and alerts.

This all points out to problems that need to fixed in how the U.S. government protects its citizens from dangerous food products and how it communicates the necessary warnings.

Complete List of Recalled Castleberry’s Items