President Obama plans a "full review" of FDA, saying the agency should be able to act earlier to address problems such as the ongoing recalls related to peanut butter products stop the distribution of contaminated peanut butter ingredients.

"The FDA has not been able to catch some of these things as quickly as I expect them to," the president said during a TV interview that aired Feb. 2.

During a Jan. 30 briefing, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs noted the Department of Justice is investigating the Peanut Corporation of America, the source of contaminated peanut butter ingredients linked to more than 500 cases of human illness and possibly eight deaths.

As of Feb. 6 the number of recalled peanut butter products had reached more than 1,500 by more than 200 firms, according to the agency's Web site.

The recalls began Jan. 10 (¹ Also see "Peanut Butter Firm’s GMP “Deviation” Offers Lessons For Manufacturers" - Pink Sheet, 2 February, 2009., p. 8).

"I think the revelations have no doubt been alarming, that whether it was our own regulatory system or a company that repeatedly found salmonella in its own testing would continue to ship out that product is beyond disturbing for millions of parents," Gibbs said.

He added that he anticipates the president will announce appointments for the Consumer Product Safety Commission "and places like that to put in place a stricter regulatory structure and ensure that the type of thing that happened in this case doesn't happen again."

The Consumers Union said it supports Obama's call for an agency review, and recommends requiring annual inspections of food processing plants.

FDA has been "severely weakened by cutbacks in staffing and funding" and is "poorly equipped to deal with today's food industry," Jean Halloran, the group's director of Food Policy Initiatives, says in a Feb. 2 release.

- Katie Stevenson (k.stevenson@elsevier.com) and Chris Walker (c.walker@elsevier.com)

Obama Says Peanut Butter Problem Points To “Full Review” Of FDA

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