Why did FDA wait?
Chi-Chi’s restaurant has asked a bankruptcy judge to allow it to pay a $500,000 deductible so that $51 million in liability insurance will kick in to begin paying those sickened by eating green onions at its Beaver restaurant. Three people died and at least 600 contracted hepatitis A. Chi-Chi’s shouldn’t be the only one on the hook for this.
The FDA waited until Nov. 15 before issuing a national advisory, warning the public that they should eat only cooked green onions. Yet, similar outbreaks linked to Mexican green onions were reported in Tennessee and Georgia earlier this fall. And another cluster of hepatitis A in North Carolina is also linked to green onions.
Who knew?
Certainly not the patrons of Chi-Chi’s who eagerly dipped chips into salsa laden with fresh green onions. Had they been warned that a seemingly harmless vegetable was suspected of making people in two other states sick, would they have requested meals sans green onions? Would Chi-Chi’s not have pulled green onions from its menus?
Why did the FDA wait so long to warn the public?
Chi-Chi’s will be held legally responsible for this outbreak. It purchased the onions and served them up to patrons. It therefore is liable for the illness, even if it knew nothing about the dangers posed by raw green onions.
But the public expects that the FDA is watching out for the safety of the food streaming into the system. Especially now that a nervous America worries that terrorists could easily target food. The FDA needs to explain why it failed to sound an early, and loud warning.