In tonight's "Health Headlines", the food and drug administration's efforts to combat food-borne illness are hampered by infrequent inspections, not enough staff and the failure to implement a program devoted to the safety of fresh produce. This is all according to congressional investigators.
The FDA detected food safety problems at more than 40% of the over 2,000 plants inspected.
The report also cited previously unpublished FDA data showing that 14 people died and over 10,000 were sickened in 96 outbreaks associated with fresh produce from 1996 through 2006.
The government accountability office says only 1% of the produce imported into the U.S. is inspected and the practice of mixing produce from different sources makes it harder to trace contamination.
