''Food-Safety Inspectors Struggle to Keep Up''

From Governing.com

............''foodborne illness costs the United States an estimated $77 billion annually.

And, in recent years, there are fewer and fewer government resources to combat it. Specific figures are hard to pin down, but a 2008 survey from the Association of Food and Drug Officials found that state public health officials performed about 32,000 fewer inspections that year than they did in 2001. To compound the issue, an estimated 34,000 public health jobs were cut during recent years because of the broader state and local budget crisis. The federal authorities have dealt with similar shortfalls. The Washington Post reported in 2010 that the number of FDA regulatory actions fell from 614 in 2004 to 283 in 2008, as staff numbers dropped.''