Cách nước sốt táo nhiễm chì vượt qua những lỗ hổng hệ thống an toàn thực phẩm
hàng trăm trẻ em Mỹ bị đầu độc vào năm ngoái. Hồ sơ cho thấy sự ô nhiễm hết lần này đến lần khác không được chú ý
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Cinnamon-flavored applesauce pouches (túi nước sốt táo) sold in grocery (cửa hàng tạp hóa) and dollar stores last year poisoned (đầu độc) hundreds of American children with extremely high doses of lead, leaving anxious parents to watch for signs of brain damage (tổn thương não), developmental delays and seizures (chậm phát triển và co giật).
The Food and Drug Administration, citing Ecuadorean investigators, said a spice grinder was likely responsible for the contamination and said the quick recall of three million applesauce pouches protected the food supply.
But hundreds of pages of documents obtained (tài liệu thu được) by The New York Times and the nonprofit health newsroom The Examination, along with interviews with government and company officials in multiple countries, show that in the weeks and months before the recall, the tainted applesauce sailed through a series of checkpoints in a food-safety system meant to protect American consumers (người tiêu thụ).
As new laws on imported food took shape, lobbyists (người vận động hành lang) for grocery stores and food companies worked to weaken them. Scott Faber, a former lobbyist for the Grocery Manufacturers Association, recalls fending off proposals (đề xuất) for more sampling, testing and reporting.
There is no record of the F.D.A. ever inspecting the original source of the cinnamon, the Sri Lanka-based Samagi Spice Exports. Nanda Kohona, the company’s marketing director, said the company conducted its own lead tests.
None of the other companies in the cinnamon supply chain were eligible for F.D.A. inspections because they do not ship directly to the United States.
source: nytimes,
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