Obama's FDA Cracks Down on Food Industry

Sweeping pistachio recall rejects slow pace of peanut crisis
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 7, 2009 8:17 AM CDT
Obama's FDA Cracks Down on Food Industry
Setton Pistachio, the California company at the center of a nationwide pistachio recall, says it believes the salmonella contamination is likely not from a human or animal source inside its plant.   (AP Photo)

Under President Obama, the Food and Drug Administration is taking on a tougher, more preventative role, the New York Times reports, leading, for example, to product recalls before anyone’s been sickened. The change is evident in the agency’s handling of the pistachio scare: It warned against eating them without reports of sickness, then pushed for a recall of all pistachios harvested in 2008 by California’s Setton company.

Hundreds of products, from candy bars to trail mix, are set to disappear from shelves in a recall announced yesterday. The agency’s acting head aims not to repeat the slow pace of the peanut recall. “The food industry needs to be on notice that FDA is going to be much more proactive and move things far faster,” said an official. (More FDA stories.)

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