Question

Which option distinguishes why Clarence failed to discover the problem in the following scenario?

Clarence is an FDA inspector who works at the seaport in Seattle inspecting fish imports before shipping to grocery stores. He was just notified that a shipment he inspected was identified as containing a foodborne illness.


Inspectors do not have access to bacteria testing on site.

Inspectors are only required to inspect one fish per box.

Inspectors are not qualified to diagnose a foodborne illness.

Inspectors only examine less than five percent of a shipment.

Answer 1

"Inspectors only examine less than five percent of a shipment."

Reason: the inspection samples so little of the cargo that contaminated items are likely to be missed. Even if an inspector is careful, pathogens are often invisible and unevenly distributed, so inspecting a very small fraction (or just one item per many) gives a high probability the contaminated units won’t be checked. The other statements (no on‑site bacteria testing, not qualified to diagnose) are contributory limitations, but the primary distinguishing cause here is the extremely low sampling rate.