FDA Spends Too Much on Employee Parties, Not Enough on Food Safety

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FDA Spends Too Much on Employee Parties, Not Enough on Food Safety

Statement of Wenonah Hauter, Food & Water Watch Executive Director

“In a time of increasing concern over the safety of our food supply, it is disconcerting to hear of frivolous spending from a federal agency that is charged with protecting consumers’ safety. Yet unfortunately this is the case with the Food and Drug Administration.

“It has been over three months since consumers began to get sick from food that was contaminated with Salmonella Saintpaul, and since then, nearly 1,150 cases of infection have been confirmed. Even though the outbreak was one of worst cases of foodborne illness this year, FDA initially dragged its feet in sending its field inspectors to investigate the contamination, and until this day, has failed to pinpoint a source. But while FDA had a long-delayed response to this national food emergency, the agency was quick to spend money on sending many of its employees to Washington, DC to attend awards ceremonies.

“This is just some of the alarming data that Food & Water Watch recently discovered from the Food and Drug Administration. According to the documents received in response to a Freedom of Information Act request, FDA spent at least $2.2 million over the past eight years on employee award ceremonies. Specifically, the Office of Regulatory Affairs – the field division of FDA that is tasked with investigating the Salmonella outbreak – spent close to $800,000 on award parties, with $695,000 spent on transportation alone.  The total amount spent, however, is on the conservative side since records could not be located on the amount of money spent on plaques and awards issued by the Office of Regulatory Affairs.  If FDA was willing and able to spend over three quarters of a million dollars on awards ceremonies, why didn’t it spend this money on needed inspectors in the field?

“But this isn’t the first time that FDA’s spending has been questioned. In 2007 - a year that will go down as one of the worst for food and drug safety lapses - FDA spent a whopping $35 million on employee bonuses.

“While exemplary work should be rewarded and recognized, we believe that FDA has been reckless in its expenditures for this activity. As an agency responsible for enforcing food safety regulations, FDA should allocate resources properly to mend our broken food system. Congress needs to take a hard look at FDA’s spending and force the agency to redirect its priorities to its core mission – protecting the American public.”

For more information, please visit: http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/food/foodsafety/fda/fda-employee-award-ceremonies-expenditures/

Food & Water Watch is a nonprofit consumer rights organization based in Washington, D.C. that challenges the corporate control and abuse of our food and water resources. Visit www.foodandwaterwatch.org.