The FDA knew our food had E. coli in it

But didn't have the people nor the money to deal with it. And now it seems to be getting worse: (my bold)

The Food and Drug Administration has known for years about contamination problems at a Georgia peanut butter plant and on California spinach farms that led to disease outbreaks that killed three people, sickened hundreds, and forced one of the biggest product recalls in U.S. history, documents and interviews show.

Overwhelmed by huge growth in the number of food processors and imports, however, the agency took only limited steps to address the problems and relied on producers to police themselves, according to agency documents.

Congressional critics and consumer advocates said both episodes show that the agency is incapable of adequately protecting the safety of the food supply.

FDA officials conceded that the agency's system needs to be overhauled to meet today's demands, but contended that the agency could not have done anything to prevent either contamination episode.

Last week, the FDA notified California state health officials that hogs on a farm in the state had likely eaten feed laced with melamine, an industrial chemical blamed for the deaths of dozens of pets in recent weeks. Officials are trying to determine whether the chemical's presence in the hogs represents a threat to humans.

Pork from animals raised on the farm has been recalled. The FDA has said its inspectors probably would not have found the contaminated food before problems arose. The tainted additive caused a recall of more than 100 different brands of pet food.

The outbreaks point to a need to change the way the agency does business, said Robert E. Brackett, director of the FDA's food-safety arm, which is responsible for safeguarding 80 percent of the nation's food supply.

So what will we do when we find out we have been consuming melamine in all sorts of food products? For how many years? From China alone? Or from other countries as well?

Update: Bryan of Why Now? has a list.

Update: One woman's good fight against the megacorporation Wyeth:

Dr. Hampshire was removed from an FDA oversight job when a drug maker complained about questions she raised over a pet drug. The drug, Proheart 6, was eventually recalled, and Hampshire was cleared by an agency investigation.