Food safetyU.S. inspects only 2 percent of all imported food

The U.S. federal agencies responsible for the safety of the U.S. food supply routinely fail to prevent bacteria-infected food from reaching grocery stores and restaurants, putting millions of Americans at risk.

A months-long News21 investigation found that food safety in the United States depends on ineffective regulations and underfunded government agencies that lack the authority to protect consumers.

the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that each year one in six Americans — 48 million people — gets sick, 128,000 are hospitalized, and 3,000 die from foodborne diseases.

Iwatch newsreports that just this year, contaminated hazelnuts, cantaloupe, bologna, sprouts, papayas, and two types of turkey all have caused outbreaks of E. coli and salmonella illnesses in the United States. Late last month the CDC reported that thirteen people died as a result of listeria food poisoning from eating cantaloupes produced at Jensen Farms in Granada, Colorado. Altogether, 72 people in 18 states were stricken, according to the CDC.

Food imports have quadrupled over the past decade. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) expects 24 million shipments of goods for which it is responsible to pass through the nation’s more than 300 ports of entry this year, up from six million a decade ago. The agency uses a risk-based system to isolate foods with high risk of contamination, but physically inspects only about 2 percent of all imported food.