The Government Accountability Office is blaming the Food and Drug Administration for not having been able to guarantee safety of the nation’s food, predominantly its fresh fruits and vegetables.

Thousands of U.S. citizens have fallen ill and the produce industry has lost a staggering amount of millions of dollars. In order to further avoid putting the health of American consumers in jeopardy, the government report released last week strongly recommends the federal health officials to expand and revise their strategy.

The FDA, which is in charge of ensuring the safety of 80 percent of the U.S. food supply, has been strongly condemned for failing to do a correct job. Between 2000 and 2007, while millions of Americans were scared about the rising number of reports of food-borne illnesses, the agency found food-related problems at over 800 plants. However, about 50 percent of those plants weren’t inspected more than once for the reason that the agency put faith in the food companies to take counteractive action without oversight, according to GAO, the investigative arm of Congress.

From 1996 to 2006, tainted fresh produce sickened more than 10,250 individuals; 14 of them died. As far as salmonella outbreak concerns, 1,440 people in 43 states became ill. The FDA initially believed tomatoes are the source of the contamination but then jalapeno peppers from Mexico drew the attention, almost becoming their leading suspect for spreading the bacteria. However, the source was never proved definitively so no one can be sure that another salmonella outbreak can be prevented.

Moreover, in 2002 an E. coli outbreak in fresh spinach killed five people and sickened more than 200.

This report paints a frightening picture of the FDA’s fresh produce safety efforts,” said Barbara Boxer, U.S. Senator from the State of California. “It should serve as a wake-up call to do more to protect the nation’s food supply.”