29.12.2017

The Food and Drug Administration waited an average 57 days to issue recalls for contaminated foods, a new Department of Health and Human Services report found. The report, which studied 30 of 1,557 FDA-issued recalls from 2012 to 2015, found the agency was slow to recall tainted foods, which could lead to illness. In one incident, the FDA did not issue a recall until 303 days after deeming the food a potential hazard. Food recalls are announced frequently, but the vast majority are voluntary. 
The new report noted that it took the agency 165 days to start a recall of nut butters that may have been tainted with salmonella; 151 days to recall hazelnuts that also suspected of salmonella contamination; 82 days to recall frozen spinach suspected of high levels of cadmium; and 27 days to start a recall of cooked duck eggs carrying the bacteria that cause botulism.