The tainted pet food fiasco that has shaken pet owners and brought forth the wrath of animal rights groups across the nation may be indicative of far more serious problems in the way our nation monitors imported food products, according to a new report from The Associated Press.

The source of the pet food contamination has been traced to wheat gluten imported from China by Las Vegas-based ChemNutra Inc. The report by the AP, however, turns attention to human food imports. Apparently, those Chilean bananas and the Russian caviar in your fridge might be just as dangerous as Snoopy's puppy chow.

While we are sympathetic to the affected pets and pet owners, we are far more troubled by the AP's finding that "just 1.3 percent of imported fish, vegetables, fruit and other foods are inspected — yet those government inspections regularly reveal food unfit for human consumption."

Indeed, almost 850 shipments of imported food were detained by the FDA in March alone because of health concerns.

Theoretically, with nearly 99 percent of imported food slipping through our ports without inspection, tens of thousands of similarly suspect food shipments could be entering the marketplace each month.

This is a disconcerting thought, to say the least.

Officials from the FDA have said that there are not enough resources available to inspect all imports. While this may be true, we doubt that 1.3 percent is the best the organization could be doing, particularly given that it was inspecting 1.8 percent of imports in 2003.

Can Americans depend on the sloth-like federal government to take initiative? Seattle is a major entryway for imports, especially from Asia. If the federal government is too slow in taking action, then local officials should.

As the U.S. becomes increasingly reliant on imported foods, the FDA and other concerned administrations must take steps to ensure that these foods are safe to eat.