FDA 'needs to improve food safety'

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) needs to pay closer attention to the safety of approved food ingredients, congressional investigators have said.

Advice from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) suggests the FDA should pay more attention to the safety of certain ingredients following the widespread recall of a flavour-enhancing hydrolyzed vegetable protein last week due to salmonella contamination.

The recall affected thousands of processed foods, including dried soups, dips and dressings.

The GAO points out that some spices, artificial flavours and other ingredients are not subject to frequent safety reviews by the FDA because the agency or manufacturers deem them "generally recognised as safe."

However, investigators said the FDA has not done enough to review such substances.

FDA officials said they believe the risk to consumers is low.

Last year the FDA orchestrated a "voluntary recall" of all products containing non-fat dry milk produced by the Minnesota-based Plainview Milk Products Cooperative after the compnay discovered salmonella contamination on its equipment.

Posted by Jason Webster