Congress, FDA part of regulatory problem

If the allegations are correct, if Stewart Parnell really did repeatedly order his company to ship peanut products that he knew were tainted with deadly salmonella, current law may not be sufficient to deliver the punishment he deserves.

But at the very least, his family business, Peanut Corporation of America, is now defunct. The criminal and civil consequences of contributing to the deaths of at least nine people ensure that it will never produce another penny of profit for Parnell.

JAY BOOKMAN
MY OPINION

• E-mail Bookman

Recent columns:
[an error occurred while processing this directive]

Unfortunately, however, the victims in this case go well beyond those sickened and killed by salmonella. Others in the peanut industry — growers, processors, wholesalers, retailers, many with sterling records of conscientious operation — have suffered extensive financial damage.

For those and others, the PCA case raises a larger question: Why has it taken death and a national scandal to identify an operation that was so clearly operating beyond the bounds of safety and even decency? This was not, after all, a one-time occurence at the PCA plant. We have now learned of roughly a dozen instances of salmonella at the plant, none of which came to official attention.

Here in Georgia, numbers explain part of the failure. Agriculture Commissioner Tommy Irvin has come under harsh criticism, including calls for his resignation, because his inspectors failed to find and correct the problems at PCA’s plant in Blakely. As recently as October, critics point out, a state inspector toured the PCA facility and reported only minor health violations.

However, that inspector was one of just 60 employed by the state Department of Agriculture, and was able to spend just two or three hours at the plant. She and the 59 other state inspectors are responsible for checking an estimated 16,000 facilities statewide. A team that small cannot reasonably be expected to ensure a safe food supply; at best, it can create only the illusion of safety, an illusion that lasts right up until the moment somebody dies.

With Georgia’s peanut industry taking such a serious hit in this tragedy, state legislators and other officials are of course clamoring for reform and trying to fix blame. That’s perfectly natural and appropriate.

However, it’s worth asking: If Irvin had gone to the governor or Legislature a year ago and asked to increase the number of state inspectors and the authority they wield over peanut-processing plants, what kind of reception could he have expected?

A.) “Of course, Secretary Irvin. We want to protect not just consumer safety but the reputation of Georgia’s peanut-processing industry. If we can’t ensure our products are healthy, a lot of Georgians could lose their jobs and Georgia farms and businesses would suffer, so it’s a good investment.”

B.) “Ain’t no way. We were not elected to grow the size of government, we were elected to reduce it. Government should get off the backs of business in this state, not cripple it with additional rules and regulations.”

We all know the answer.

A similar dynamic is playing out in Washington, where members of Congress are chastising federal agencies for their own failure to identify PCA’s problems. The Food and Drug Administration has responded by pointing out that in 2001, it contracted out its inspection duties to the state of Georgia.

While true, that is not a defense. The FDA farmed out its responsibility to an agency that it knew or should have known was incapable of performing it adequately. It too was less interested in protecting human health than in creating the illusion of such protection.

And again, the same congressmen complaining about the failure of regulation share a large part of the blame. The FDA farmed out its duties because Congress was unwilling to fund enough federal inspectors. And by delegating the job to agencies in Georgia and other states, the FDA and Congress put the burden of enforcement on agencies that are more vulnerable politically and less likely to take a hard line.

That was not a flaw in the system. That was part of the reason it was considered a good idea.