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July 24, 2008 8:41:20 AM CDT

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Tainted Imports Originate All Over the World

Posted Jul 12, 07 10:40 AM CDT in World,  US,  Business,  Science & Health 

(Newser) – Contaminated Chinese seafood is the latest high-profile export turning American consumers off their feed, but they might want to save some caution for Dominican produce and Danish candy, FDA stats suggest. Inspectors stopped more food shipments from India and Mexico than from China in the past year, the Times reports, and the flood of imports is overtaxing the agency's enforcement system.

The agency scrutinizes just 1% percent of the imports flooding across the borders and has rejected everything from pepper to lollipops since last July. A 2003 plan that would have overhauled the system fell victim to a budget pinch, and a former agency bigwig couldn’t emphasize the shortcomings enough: “These guys are going to war without enough troops.”

Source New York Times

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U.S. Customs and Border Patrol officers use a portable gamma-ray imaging VACIS machine to examine cargo containers Tuesday, April 10, 2007 at the Port of Tacoma in Tacoma, Wash. The trade deficit dropped...   (Associated Press)
File photo dated Feb. 18 1954 of the Cutty Sark being towed into east India Import Dock, London. A spectacular early morning fire on Monday May 21 2007 caused heavy damage to the clipper ship Cutty...   (Associated Press)
percent decline from the March deficit. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)   (Associated Press)
A barge ferries shipping containers from the port of Newark, N.J. through the Kill Van Kull to New York Harbor on Friday, June 1, 2007. The trade deficit dropped sharply in April even though the politically...   (Associated Press)
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