May 21, 2007

Sabrina L Downard
Chicago, IL

Food and Drug Administration
5600 Fishers Lane
Rockville, Maryland 20857

To Whom It May Concern:

I am a regular reader of the Consumerist blog (www.consumerist.com), a web log dedicated to customer service issues. It was there, in a post entitled “Chinese Poison Train Declared Unstoppable,” that I learned about your OASIS site, and specifically, a listing of products refused entry into the United States from China in April, 2007 because they did not meet FDA standards.

You know, I had never, ever considered that someone out there had the job of going through questionable food products and labeling them “Filthy.” I just take it for granted that my food isn’t gross. The next time someone lectures me about a “nanny state,” I think I’ll give them your OASIS web site URL.

Especially in light of Chinese manufacturers’ recent exportation of, e.g., diethylene glycol labeled as glycerine where it eventually poisoned cough syrup (something I found particularly horrifying), I just wanted to take a minute and write a thank you letter for everyone who is out there silently keeping we regular Joes safe by preventing unsafe imports.

Thank you.
Sabrina L Downard

Cc: Sen. Richard Durbin; Sen. Barack Obama.

oh, what the hell. it had been forever since i’d sent anyone a love letter. besides, seriously — y’all should read that page. someone is out there going through food imports that they eventually apply a legal description of “putrid or decomposed” to and kicking it right the hell back out of the country. WHOEVER YOU ARE, MYSTERY FDA PERSON, YOU ARE AWESOME.