Word: fda
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Some, particularly the Chileans, whose estimated $600 million fruit and vegetable industry was crippled, felt the U.S. had vastly overreacted. FDA Commissioner Frank Young explained his action with the statement that he would rather be "safe than sorry," and many Americans no doubt agreed with...
...began. The first phone call to the U.S. embassy in Santiago was followed by a more serious one on March 9. The caller said he had read in a Santiago paper that his threat was being treated as a hoax. Be warned, he said, it was no hoax. Fifty FDA inspectors were dispatched to the Almeria Star as it docked in Philadelphia. They set up tables along the pier and began examining 1,200 cases of grapes for softness, discoloration and the telltale welds caused by punctures. By Sunday, 150 inspectors, more than 15% of the FDA's field force...
Privately, State Department authorities acknowledged that the FDA may have overreacted -- all Chilean fruit on hand was ordered destroyed -- but insisted it would have been irresponsible to have acted otherwise. Government inspectors claim there is no quick way to test for liquid-cyanide poisoning in fruit. But by week's end the FDA was taking an approach similar to the airlines', allowing new imports of grapes and other small fruits but warning consumers to look carefully for holes, mushiness, discoloration or a burnt- almond smell. Safe rather than sorry had given way to FDA Commissioner Young's statement...
...hazard to health. The EPA sets limits for the amounts of residue left in foods that are well below what it considers to be danger levels. And regular checks by the Food and Drug Administration of both domestic and imported crops uncover few violations. In 1987, for example, the FDA tested 14,492 food samples, about one-third of them fruits and vegetables, and found that less than 1% of the items had residues that exceeded the legally allowable EPA level. No pesticides at all were detected...
Food experts warn against a faddish trend to undercooking items, particularly hamburgers, fish and chicken. Poultry should not be pink near the bone. Many cooks are impatient, particularly when it comes to the microwave. Warns Douglas Archer, head of the microbiology division of the FDA's Office of Nutrition and Food Sciences: "If you're told to cook something and let it sit for two minutes, there's a good reason. You're letting the heat from inside the food come out in the form of steam and finish the cooking." Once food is prepared, it should be eaten within...