Script:

You have heard all about them, a slue of reports about tainted seafood and pet food from China. The country admitted this week it needs to raise its food safety standards to those of international levels. But as the US imports more and more goods from China, how concerned should we be about our food supply. That discussion now with Michael Doyle, the director of The Center for Food Safety at the University of Georgia, and Chris Waldrop, the director of Food Policy Institute at the Consumer Federation of America. Gentlemen, welcome, it’s a pleasure to have you here. Ah, Chris, let me start with you. We have been talking about this situation for some time now, and a number of big American companies admitted this week that they have an awful lot of their food components imported from China. How worried are you about the safety standards there?

Well, the China's standards as we have seen over the past several months are much lower than what the US standards are. So there is a real concern that the foods that they are importing into this country are simply, simply do not meet those safety standards that we, as America consumers come to expect for any foods we buy in the supermarket.

And, um, Michael, do you agree with that? And are you worried that as we import more and more, companies are looking for the cheapest source of their ingredients, and that frequently leads you outside of the United States?

Well, I fully agree with what Chris said, presently about 15% of our food supply is imported, and the number is increasing at an incredible rate, doubling about every five years. And china has come from basically nowhere ten years ago to being the third leading food importer into the United States. So we have got some real concerns, because the way food is produced and processed in China is in general, not equivalent to the way food is processed and prepared here in the US.

So Chris, what do you think needs to be done? I mean this is a time of cost-cutting in most government agencies, and who should ultimately be held liable for all of this? Is it the FDA for the lack of their ability to inspect all of these goods? Is it the companies themselves for going to an outsourcing source or is it China?

Well, I think the blame can be shared in a number of different directions. One of the biggest problems that we have seen is that the FDA has been woefully underfunded for the past five to seven years. They simply do not have the resources to be able to deal with this huge wave of imports that has been coming in, as Doctor Doyle said, it is just increasing on a very regular basis. And the FDA really needs increased resources, increased funding, and just to be able to keep up with this.

What about the companies, Michael, what share of the responsibility should they shoulder, given the fact that, you know, they have brands that they have to protect and customers that they need to protect?

Food company and food processors are the first line in defense. And it’s incumbent on them to make sure that the ingredients in the foods that bear their label are free of harmful bacteria and toxins as well as veterinary drugs and all these other problems we are finding with foods from countries like China. So the food companies first and it's up to the FDA to verify that the food companies are doing their job in making food safe.

You know, one of the issues, Chris, is also how those companies though will be able to verify. It’s different if the food is grown, you know / in your own backyard, when its another country, how much or what type of the ability will those companies have to ensure that the ingredients that they are buying are safe and meet their standards. Do they have any power at all?

Well, I think these large international companies that have headquarters all over the world, I think they do have the ability to make sure that what they are sourcing and the foods that they are producing are as safe as possible. And they really have the power to be able to tell a company that wants to provide ingredients to them that look unless you do it the safest way and you meet our standards, that we are not just, we're just not gonna use you.

And Michael, you get the final word on this. What should the consumer do? I mean, you read the label, and it says, it doesn't say, if it doesn’t say "made in China", that doesn’t necessarily mean that some components of that product haven’t come from China. That’s part of the problem in this whole mess.

You're actually right to…

What should the consumer do?

Unfortunately, unless it’s on the label, the consumer doesn’t know what is in that food. And so it’s incumbent on food processors and the FDA to make sure that the food is safe. And we as consumers, all we can do is if it says made in China, avoid it.

Do you think that, Michael, do you think or actually Chris, let me put this to you very quickly. Should labeling requirements change? So if any component of a cereal comes from China that needs to be listed. Would that be helpful or not?

Well, it can be. That can be. The problem is going to be that there will be just too much on the label for the average customer to digest all.That may not be a good solution.

Chris?

No, I would agree, it maybe too cumbersome at some point, but it is information that consumers may start demanding. And in that case, the companies would have to probably meet those expectations.

Gentlemen, thank you very much. Michael, Chris. We appreciate your time.

It's a pleasure!

Thank you very much.

Notes:

Incumbent: imposed as an obligation or a duty; obligatory

incumbent on sb to do sth