COLLEGE PARK, Md. - More motorcoaches and motorcoach facilities are being inspected for cleanliness and food safety as a result of the expanded efforts by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to protect the nation's food supply and prevent incidents of food sabotage.
And, the number of inspections is likely to continue going up.
Since the terrorist attacks of 9/11, the FDA has added an estimated 800 employees and many of them have been assigned to conduct inspections of public passenger carriers, including motorcoaches, airplanes, trains and ships.
"The largest group was targeted toward inspections, imports and field operations, so we do have more employees to go out and do inspections across the board," said Sebastian Cianci, a spokesman for the FDA Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition in College Park. "Since we have more people available to help us, we have more frequent inspections."
The new emphasis on food security, as opposed to just food safety of the pre-9/11 days, has meant more checks of coach operations.
Among other things, the FDA food center operates the Interstate Travel Program, which is responsible for inspecting the sanitation, water and food operations on motorcoaches and at bus terminals and service centers. Its inspectors generally focus on the operation and cleanliness of bathroom facilities on buses, the disposal of waste at service centers, and how food brought onboard a bus is prepared and handled.
Dean Davidson, the travel program's lead official, said the number of inspections of coaches and coach facilities increased to 81 in fiscal 2003, which ended Sept. 30, from 55 the previous year.
"I don't think we've done enough in the past," he said, adding that he hopes to see another substantial increase in inspections this year as well.
Davidson said the FDA has not specifically targeted the motorcoach industry for more inspections. Instead, the additional employees have simply given the agency the manpower to do more field inspections.
"And I think that's the reason for the rise in inspections," he stressed. (See Aug. 15 issue of Bus & Motorcoach News.)
After 9/11 and the subsequent anthrax incidents, there was concern the U.S. was vulnerable to unconventional terrorist attacks, including attacks on the food supply. In June 2002, President Bush signed into law the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act. Responsibility for carrying out many provisions of the law fell to the FDA, particularly protecting the food supply.
The agency's new hires, plus new technology to improve food safety and the development of new tests to determine food contamination, have allowed the FDA to expand its reach and capabilities.
Most motorcoach industry-related inspections by the FDA are done at bus facilities rather than on individual motorcoaches, unless the FDA receives a complaint from a bus passenger or an employee of a bus company.
"If there are buses in the station during an inspection, then an investigator would have an opportunity to go onboard if he or she chose to do so," he added.
Most violations of FDA rules involve bus lavatories that do not have properly working hand-washing equipment, non-potable drinking water aboard buses, and waste disposal centers that are not kept clean and are not equipped with back-flow prevention equipment on hoses that are used to flush holding containers, according to Davidson.
Violators generally are given a certain amount of time in which to correct the problem before further steps - injunctions and prosecution - are taken to force the carrier to act.
If a violation at a terminal or service center goes unfixed, the facility could be prohibited from accepting any interstate traffic and coaches that continued to use it could be cited as well.