U.S. Food Safety: The Import Alarm Keeps Sounding

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That was followed by a recall of almost a million tubes of toothpaste from China that were contaminated with a chemical used in antifreeze. The toothpaste had been distributed to institutions for the mentally ill, hospitals and prisons in the South.

And, shortly after that, U.S. health officials halted the importation of farmed fish from China because of chemical contamination in the fish feed.

But China is not alone in triggering American foodborne woes.

Last year also, a salmonella outbreak caused Dole Fresh Fruit Co. to recall roughly 6,104 cartons of imported cantaloupes from Costa Rica that were distributed to wholesalers in the eastern United States and Quebec. There were no reports of illness.

But in 2006, an outbreak of nonfatal scombroid fish poisoning linked to tuna steaks imported from Vietnam and Indonesia sickened 15 people in Louisiana and Tennessee. And a 2001 outbreak of salmonella in Mexican cantaloupes killed two people and sickened 25 others across 15 states.

In November, officials at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration reacted to the newest outbreaks with a sweeping set of proposals dubbed the Food Protection Plan. It calls for legislation that would give the agency broader powers (including mandatory food recall), heftier financing, and improved cooperation with producers, importers and foreign governments to stop tainted food at the source. The plan remains just that, however, pending Congressional action.

Still, "I think it's clearly a step forward," said Bill Hubbard, who spent 14 years as associate commissioner of the FDA before retiring in 2005. Hubbard, who is now an adviser for the Washington, D.C.-based consumer advocacy group Coalition for a Stronger FDA, said, "The plan is clearly an attempt to change the paradigm from 'inspect only at the border' to putting more of the responsibility elsewhere," especially at the source of production abroad.

"Put in place procedures where you say to the importer you need to be checking on your supplier, then the exporter in China is supposed to be looking at his supplier and then all the way back to the producer," Hubbard explained. "Everybody is checking on everybody and keeping records. And, in theory, that can work. But the FDA will need new statutory authority to oversee something like that, and resources."