With little government oversight, producers pay for own food-safety inspections

The food industry has faced considerable losses over the past few years as a result of food-safety recalls. So, citing little oversight from the Food and Drug Administration, many food processors are taking matters into their own hands, hiring government inspectors to help with self-regulation. For example, the Leafy Green Products Handler Marketing Agreement pays the State of California for auditors to inspect the crop's producers, after the industry lost $100 million following a 2006 outbreak of e.coli in spinach. (Times photo by Peter DaSilva shows workers spraying chorine on freshly picked produce)

"It’s an understandable response when the federal government has left a vacuum,” said George Washington University professor Michael R. Taylor, who was formerly an officer in two federal food-safety agencies. But he and other critics warn that the approach is not ideal. “We want every inspector to be paid by and owe their loyalty to the people who eat, not to the owner of an unsanitary produce packing operation. You can’t work for both," said safety advocate Carol L. Tucker-Foreman of the Consumer Federation of American. (Read more)