A Food Marketing Institute survey found consumer confidence in food safety has plummeted. Last year 82% of consumers felt the food they buy is safe.  This year, only 66% feel confident.  A 16% drop.

The FMI website does not show the information.  It could be there, but I did not find it.  The NY Time Editorial Board opined on the issue today.

The private laboratories that test foods from companies on the government’s “import alert list” cannot automatically report tainted food to the Food and Drug Administration. Instead, they must give their reports to the importer who is paying for the test. If a shipment fails one laboratory’s test, some importers have switched to a less-reputable laboratory to get the tainted foodstuff through.

The FMI, which members source the lowest cost food to be sold with the happiest labels, is worried:

The Food Marketing Institute — with 1,500 members, including major grocery chains and wholesalers — is calling for new rules that would allow the government to recall any food shipment if the producer or importer hesitates.

No mention of trade.  Trade still trumps all other policies, even food safety.  Huge increases in imports have shredded our food safety net, built over 100 years.  The imported food shipments, the few that are inspected, are often rejected as rotten, poisonous, and filthy.  These are not my words, but the words on FDA import inspection rejection forms.

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