Inspectors, Rats, and Roaches

The trouble with the Food and Drug Administration's policy of leaving enforcement of its regulations to the states is that the agency really has no control over how inspections are carried out, or by whom.

The Associated Press sent reporters Kate Brumback and Greg Bluestein to Blakely, Ga., the site of the peanut-processing plant that is the origin of the salmonella outbreak that has killed several people and sickened hundreds of others. Here's what they learned:

"A Georgia health inspector who toured the peanut butter plant at the center of a national salmonella outbreak noted only two minor violations in October. Less than three months later, federal inspectors found roaches, mold, a leaking roof and other sanitation problems."

Further:

"No samples of the finished product were taken for salmonella testing during the October inspection, despite a push by the state to check for the bacteria after a salmonella outbreak was traced to another Georgia peanut butter plant in 2007."

The AP sent "a reporter" (when will American journalists stop using that clumsy convention?) to the home of the inspector, Donna Adams, but she wouldn't talk.

It is unclear precisely what happened here. Food-safety experts said state inspectors are overburdened and undertrained—and that's true. But how much training is really needed to note the presence of rats and roaches?

Perhaps a criminal probe, a civil trial, or a congressional inquiry will reveal more details. President Obama on Monday said he wants to see a "complete review" of the FDA. Let's hope that it leads to a complete overhaul of the federal government's food-safety regime.