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just 2 percent inspected

EAST LOS ANGELES, Calif. At a sprawling warehouse here, two investigators from the U. S. Food and Drug Administration watched intently as 50 boxes of preserved bean curd from China were emptied into a grinding machine.

The monstrously loud apparatus worked its way through 1,800 glass bottles, grinding the glass and spewing out a stream of chunky yellow ooze that would be collected, treated and disposed of in the sewer system.

FDA investigators had decided that the bottles of bean curds were improperly heat sealed and, as a result, were susceptible to harmful bacteria like botulism, which can be fatal.

The case of the destroyed bean curds was relatively straightforward: They had been flagged as suspect as soon as they arrived in port air max 2015 black orange green due to a defective heat seal and were sent directly to an FDA warehouse for testing.

That's not always how it happens.

The FDA's Los Angeles district is one of the busiest in the U. area. Through the port stream products like Cambodian rice by the ton, tapioca pearls from the Philippines, tea biscuits from China, sugar cane and fish from around the world.

In 2010, about 3,500 shipments here were refused entry because they were contaminated with filth, pesticides, drug residue or traces of salmonella, according to a News21 analysis of the FDA's database of import refusals. Some of the imports contained unsafe color additives or were mislabeled. And some were even poisonous.

Nationwide, the FDA said that last year it rejected nearly 16,000 food related shipments out of more Nike Air Max 90 than 10 million that arrived in more than 320 ports.

"If it comes in here and it's bad," said Denise Williams, a supervisor in the FDA's Division of Import Operations in Southern California, "we're gonna get 'em."

Except when they don't. Government Accountability Office, say the FDA is simply not up to the task air max 2015 black blue green white of ensuring the safety of food imports, which are entering this country in ever growing numbers. The FDA expects 24 million shipments of FDA regulated goods to pass through the nation's ports of entry this year, up from 6 million a decade ago.

During that time, the number of FDA investigators stayed constant at about 1,350. The agency began adding investigators in 2009 and now has about 1,800 still far short of the number required to keep up with the pace of imports.

In 2010, FDA inspectors physically examined 2.06 percent of all food related imports. The FDA expects only 1.59 percent of all food imports to be examined this year and even less only 1.47 percent next year, according to its Office of Regulatory Affairs. import operations at nike air max thea land, sea and air ports. It analyzes information such as a manufacturer's history with the agency, lab test results and even current weather patterns, assigning a risk based score to each shipment to direct investigators toward the riskiest ones.

After a shipment is flagged, it's up to a person to investigate further. Investigators give top priority to the items with the highest scores and work their way down at least, to the point they can with limited staff.

This summer, the FDA gave News21 unusual behind the Air Max 2015 scenes access at its largest operating district to show the ways in which front line operations attempt to keep unsafe food from reaching American supermarket shelves and dinner tables."The Nose" prepares to sniff his way down a mahi mahi fillet.

Steve Angold works out of a narrow lab at the FDA's new $40 million testing facility in Irvine, Calif. He is one of about 25 FDA specialists across the country who rely on their senses of sight, touch, taste and smell to detect decomposition or filth in food products.