Growers and Grocers

A few days ago, the Associated Press had an article with some stunning numbers and information about food imports. In U.S. Food Safety Strained by Imports, Justin Pritchard looks at the rapid rise in imported ingredients–items like guar gum, maltodextrin, and casein (a protein in milk)–and lays out the big picture:

While Americans are consuming more imported food and drink from preserved fruit to coffee, demand among U.S. food makers for overseas ingredients is increasing even faster.

In 2001, the United States imported about $4.4 billion worth of ingredients processed from plants or animals, AP’s analysis shows. By last year that total leaped to $7.6 billion — a 73 percent increase. Other food and drink imports rose from $38.3 billion to $63 billion — up 65 percent.

No single reason explains the increase. Profits are one factor; changing consumer tastes play a role, too. There’s a growing expectation that seasonal products will be available year round, while immigrants may hanker for familiar flavors and others want variety.

So U.S. food makers head overseas, where labor-intensive ingredients can be cheaper to produce in low-wage countries. They’re not expensive to ship, either, because they’re relatively compact and don’t spoil easily, said David Closs, an expert in global food supply at Michigan State University.

By its own latest accounting, the FDA only had enough inspectors to check about 1 percent of the 8.9 million imported food shipments in fiscal year 2006. Topping the list were products with past problems, such as seafood and produce.

“I don’t ever remember working on ingredients,” said Carl R. Nielsen, a former FDA official whose job until he left in 2005 was to make sure field inspectors were checking the right imports. “That was the lowest priority, a low priority.”

The budgets for inspection and food safety, however, have not kept up with the deluge of imported foods. The figure below shows the AP’s import figures (a 73% increase in ingredients, 67% increase for other foods), the budget of the UDSA’s Food and Safety Inspection Service (FSIS), and the budget for FDA’s food programs (sources for the budget figures are detailed at the bottom of the post). For reference, the 2001 funding for the FSIS was $782 million and for the FDA food programs was $302 million. Even though 2002 brought a huge jump in funding for the FDA’s food programs (probably a result of new efforts to prevent bioterrorism and agroterrorism), the two budgets have not grown nearly as fast as imports.

A few caveats about the plot are in order. First, the AP’s import figures are for all foods and all ingredients — it is unknown how responsibility for the imports is split between FDA and USDA. A potential clue comes from a prepared statement from the GAO for a hearing before the House Energy and Commerce Committee: “…the majority of federal expenditures for food safety inspection have been directed toward USDA’s programs for ensuring the safety of meat, poultry, and egg products; however, USDA is responsible for regulating only about 20 percent of the food supply. In contrast, FDA, which is responsible for regulating about 80 percent of the food supply, accounted for only about 24 percent of expenditures.” Second, it is conceivable that the budgets for the portions of the FDA and USDA responsible for inspecting imported foods have increased faster than the overall agency budgets at the expense of other food safety programs. None of the recent articles about food import problems have mentioned anything about shifts in agency funding.

Sources for Budget Figures

The USDA FSIS figures for 2001-2003 are from a FY 2005 budget chart; figures for 2004-2008 are from the FY 2008 budget highlights (PDF). The budget figures for the FDA’s food programs are available at the Health and Human Services budget web page in a variety of PDF files: 2001, 2002-2003, 2004-2008 (note that the 2007 and 2008 figures are subject to change when Congress enacts the final budgets).