Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, February 25, 1991 TAG: 9102230412
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: TAMMY POOLE
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
An employee told him he could return the product for a refund. What alarmed Calhoun was that the grocer didn't seem concerned enough to want more information.
"I wanted them to investigate this to keep others from possibly being injured, but no one even returned my call," he said.
Calhoun also contacted the manufacturer. No one there returned his call, either.
Calhoun's problem is not uncommon, said Dennis Doupnik, an investigator in the Roanoke office of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Consumers who find foreign objects in their food or other products usually don't know the proper channels for complaining, he said.
The FDA handles complaints about food, drugs or cosmetics, Doupnik said. Even though some consumers are aware of the agency's work, they aren't aware there is an FDA office in Roanoke, he said.
"We don't get that many complaints here," he said. Instead, Southwest Virginians who do complain to the FDA often contact its Richmond office, which refers the callers back to Roanoke, Doupnik said.
Last year Doupnik and his co-worker, James MacLaughlin, received a total of 10 complaints, he said. This year they've received three, including Calhoun's, he said.
Doupnik said the results weren't back from the tests on Calhoun's complaint, but described the usual process:
"First of all, we have to determine the significance of the complaint," Doupnik said. For example, if a consumer said he found a bug in a can of beans, "chances are that's the only bug that you're going to find in that manufacturer's beans," Doupnik said.
A complaint is forwarded to the FDA office closest to the manufacturer.
"They may follow up on this when the next inspection of that manufacturer is due. Or, if that office has received similar complaints, then a further investigation will be performed," Doupnik said.
While manufacturers have quality-control equipment that usually keeps foreign objects out of products, some things get by anyway, Doupnik said. "It depends on the situation, of course, but it's going to happen. Depending on what the foreign object is, it could be significant or insignificant."
If someone is injured by a product, then a more in-depth investigation is conducted, Doupnik said.
To handle a complaint, the FDA needs the name and address of the manufacturer, the exact name and type of product, the size of the container, its lot number, when and where the product was purchased and when the contamination was discovered.
The FDA doesn't need to see the contaminated product because "the consumer knows what he's looking at," Doupnik said. In some instances, an investigator may purchase the product to check for contamination.
"We prefer to try to get an intact container from the same lot number rather than examine an open container. An open container has lost its integrity, and we always have to consider the possibility of self-tampering. With an unopened container, we don't have to worry about that," Doupnik said.
He declined to comment on complaints he has received about contaminated products. "It gives people ideas," Doupnik said.
However, he said his most memorable case was in 1977 while he was assigned to an FDA office in the Midwest.
A woman complained about an odor coming from bread she had toasted.
"There was a terrible odor coming from the toaster. I collected the toast and the loaf of bread and sent it to the laboratory to be evaluated.
"A couple days later, the lab analyst asked me to drop by the lab. He showed me something he had laid out on a board. A mouse had fallen into the bread, and had been cut up and baked into the loaf."
In that case, there was an immediate investigation and the bakery was told of its rodent problem, Doupnik said.
In addition to handling complaints about food, drugs or cosmetics, FDA investigators perform routine inspections of drug firms; medical device firms; blood banks and plasma centers; and firms that manufacture or distribute food, including warehouses or repackers.
During an inspection, Doupnik said one of thing he checks is a firm's quality-control equipment. "If it doesn't work properly, then it's not doing any good," he said.
In Southwest Virginia, Doupnik said, his office investigates about 500 firms annually, roughly 50 to 75 of those in the Roanoke Valley.
They also handle in-house complaints from companies that have incidents that must be reported to the FDA.
A lot of the complaints his office receives are followed up by state agencies, even after being reported to the FDA.
The FDA does not inspect meat or poultry, which are regulated by the United States Department of Agriculture; nor does it regulate products that have not crossed state lines, Doupnik said. For instance, if there's something wrong with apple juice that was made in Virginia, then the Virginia Department of Agriculture would handle the complaint, he said.
The FDA's Roanoke office is in the Poff Federal Building. The telephone number is 982-6380.
Doupnik's advice to anyone who finds something suspicious in food: "If you find anything dark and hairy growing in there, don't eat it."
by CNB