by Long Island Attorney Paul A. Lauto, Esq.
It may sound like a Letterman routine, but this top 10 list is no joke. Food Sentry, a global food monitoring service designed to protect consumers, has released the findings from their 2013 international food safety violations analysis. Not only did the United States make the top 10 list of the worst offenders, but the U.S. went as far as earning the dubious honor of making the top five.
Number one on the list is India, followed by China, Mexico, France, United States, Vietnam, Brazil, Dominican Republic, Turkey and Spain. Food Sentry's senior intelligence analyst stated, "We import from every single one of the countries in the top ten, and, in fact, the U.S. is among the most common violators." Although inspection of imported foods is key in food safety, no country inspects more than 50% of imported foods. The United States reportedly inspects less than 2% of its imported foods.
The leading causes of the violations found were due to pesticide contamination and unsanitary conditions. The three top food products found to have the most violations were seafood at 23%, vegetables at 20% and fruits at 13.8%. President Obama promised Americans that he would enforce our right to know what is in our food. That right not only includes knowing whether or not our food has been genetically modified, but also includes whether or not our food has been contaminated. In order to reach that goal and if we are going to continue to routinely import foods from countries such as India and China, perhaps we should start by inspecting a percentage of imported foods that is considerably north of 2%.
Long Island lawyer
Paul A. Lauto, Esq.
www.liattorney.com
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