Who's in charge here?

Senators pitch Safe Food Act again

By Tom Johnston on 2/16/2007 for Meatingplace.com

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) have re-introduced in Congress a bill that would consolidate into a single food-safety agency the 15 separate federal branches currently charged with protecting the country's food supply.

The two Congress members are pushing for new hearings on the Safe Food Act, a bill they have tried to enact for more than 10 years. They re-introduced it simultaneously in both chambers of Congress.

"From the E. coli outbreak that pulled spinach off store shelves to the Taco Bell outbreak that sickened individuals, it is clear that our food safety structure is collapsing and endangering public health," DeLauro said.

The law would hatch a new agency, named the Food Safety Administration, which would carry out the regular, random inspection of all food processing plants, the increased oversight of imported foods, and the adoption of more stringent standards for tracing foods to their point of origin.

Lawmakers are hoping such a consolidation would eliminate the bureaucratic confusion caused by the existing setup, a network in which, for example, the Food and Drug Administration oversees frozen cheese pizza, while USDA presides over frozen pepperoni pizza. The 15 distinct agencies collectively administer at least 30 laws.

"Our current food safety system has turned into a food fight among dozens of federal agencies," Durbin said. He and DeLauro note that their position is supported by the Government Accountability Office's recent placement of food safety on its list of critically flawed federal programs.

One of the perceived hurdles to creating a mega food-safety agency is the cost. And Kate Cyrul, spokeswoman for DeLauro, told Meatingplace.com, "I don't know if [cost] has been scored."

Yes, we really do have a screwed-up food safety program. One of the other things we need to start thinking about: the lack of food animal vets. These include the vets who are doing food inspection, who are working between the food safety program and the producers to improve food safety 'farm to fork'. Would consolidation help? I don't know, but it would make it a little bit easier to understand who's in charge.