Report: U.S. food safety obsolete

WASHINGTON, May 1 (UPI) -- Obsolete laws, misallocation of resources and fragmented efforts by 15 federal food agencies result in gaps in U.S. food safety, a non-profit group maintains.

The report by the Trust for America's Health said the U.S. food safety system has not been fundamentally modernized in more than 100 years.

The findings included in the report, "Fixing Food Safety: Protecting America's Food from Farm-to-Fork," included:

-- The bulk of federal food safety funds are spent on outdated practices of inspecting carcasses, while inadequate resources are spent on fighting modern bacteria threats, such as Salmonella or E. coli.

-- Gaps in current inspection practices mean acts of agroterrorism -- such as contamination of wheat gluten or botulism -- could go undetected until widespread.

-- Fifteen federal agencies are involved in food safety, but the efforts are fragmented and no one agency has ultimate authority.

-- Only 1 percent of imported foods are inspected. However, 60 percent of fresh fruits and vegetables and 75 percent of seafood consumed in the United States are imported.

"We need to bring food safety into the 21st century," Jeff Levi, executive director of Trust for America's Health, said. "We have the technology. We're way past due for a smart and strategic upgrade."