Thompson says more money needed for U.S. food safety

Outgoing Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson on Monday said he was "still not comfortable" about the safety of the U.S. food supply, despite an increase in federal inspections of food imports.

The Food and Drug Administration, an agency overseen by Thompson, separately announced it believed the risk of a terror attack on the U.S. food supply was low because of steps by the government to tighten its food security web.

The FDA on Monday finalized a rule requiring food makers, handlers, importers and distributors to keep records of their suppliers and customers. Such information would be crucial to trace the source of any deliberate contamination.

Thompson resigned from the Bush administration on Friday, expressing concern that day about a possible terrorist attack on food imports from the Middle East or elsewhere.

"I'm still not comfortable and I still think we have a ways to go," Thompson told reporters on Monday, referring to food safety.

The FDA needs more money from Congress to hire food inspectors and to improve technology, he said at a news conference to discuss the Medicare program.

"We've come a long way, but I'm still not satisfied," he said.

This year, the FDA will inspect about 100,000 shipments of food, up from 12,000 annual inspections four years ago. But the number of FDA inspectors has remained constant at about 1,500, he said.

Consumer groups have long criticized the FDA for inspecting just 2 percent of all U.S. food imports. American tastes for ethnic foods and fresh fruits and vegetables have contributed to a huge increase in food imports in recent years.

The FDA, which is responsible for about 80 percent of U.S. foods, conducts random and infrequent inspections. Meanwhile, the U.S. Agriculture Department is required by a hundred-year- old law to have federal meat inspectors stationed at every slaughter and meat processing plant in the nation.

Acting FDA commissioner Lester Crawford separately insisted the food system was getting safer each day.

"We have to continue to improve and be as close to fail- safe as we can be," Crawford told reporters at a briefing on the new FDA rules.

Asked about the chances of an attack on the food system, Crawford said, "the probability is very low indeed, based on historical data that we have." He added that the FDA was "looking for every eventuality" that could threaten the U.S. food supply.

FDA officials said they had no way of predicting where an attack on U.S. food would arise, in imported food or domestically produced food.

Other FDA regulations put in place since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks require advance notice of food imports.

President Bush on Saturday downplayed Thompson's earlier remarks and said: "We're doing everything we can to protect the American people" and Thompson "was commenting on the fact that we're a large country, with all kinds of avenues where somebody can inflict harm." (Additional reporting by Susan Heavey in Washington.