Liz Szabo

USA TODAY

Contaminated food has remained on the shelf for months because the Food and Drug Administration sometimes moves too slowly to force food manufacturers to recall it, according to a report released Thursday by a watchdog agency inside the Department of Health and Human Services.

In one case, the manufacturer of a nut butter took 165 days to recall a product contaminated with salmonella, a bacteria that can be deadly, according to the report from the Office of the Inspector General, which looked at 30 recalls between 2012 and 2015. Fourteen people in 11 states became ill in the outbreak.

"Consumers remained at risk of illness or death for several weeks after FDA knew of potentially hazardous food," according to a preliminary report from an ongoing audit.

In another series of recalls, at least nine people became ill, including a baby who died, from listeria bacteria in cheese. Two women also miscarried. Yet "81 days passed from the date FDA became aware of the adulterated product and the date the firm had voluntarily recalled all affected products," according to the report.

The FDA doesn't have an "efficient and effective" process to set a deadline for food manufacturers to voluntarily recall tainted food, a problem that requires the FDA's "immediate attention," according to the report. The FDA must give companies a chance to recall products voluntarily, before announcing a mandatory recall.

The new report is not the first to find problems with food recalls. A 2011 audit also found the recall program was "inadequate."

About one in six Americans, or 48 million people, get food poisoning each year, including 128,000 who are are hospitalized and 3,000 who die, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In a statement, the FDA called the delays "unacceptable," but noted that recalls are generally issued within an average of about a week.

"Public health is our top priority and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration works hard to ensure the U.S. food supply remains among the safest in the world," the FDA said in a statement. "A small number of these recalls fell well outside of that average, with months passing before all impacted products were taken off shelves, even though the FDA notified the companies involved of a contamination as soon as it had evidence. . . . The recall process should be as swift as possible."

The FDA said it is already taking "concrete steps" to speed up the recall process by creating a "rapid-response team" and using new technology.

Some of the delays involved in food recalls aren't the FDA's fault, said Seattle food safety lawyer Bill Marler, who represents people sickened by tainted food. After people become sick, their doctors are responsible for reporting the food poisoning to a local health department, which investigates to see if the illness is part of a larger outbreak and, if necessary, shares it findings with the FDA. Some local and state health departments never publicize outbreaks, and attorneys such as Marler find out about them only after filing Freedom of Information Act requests for public records.

Delays by state health departments can lead regulators to recall the wrong product, Marler said.

"By the time I'm filing a law suit, the outbreak is over," Marler said.

Food manufacturers need better safety processes as well, said Sandra Eskin, director of food safety for the

The Pew Charitable Trusts.

"Recalls are the last line of protection," Eskin said. "A recall means that whatever processes a food company puts in place aren't working."