Saber rattling

A story in today's LA Times takes another run at the topic of food safety research. The reporter penned this effective line on the lack of research on science based standards. "Without such specifics, FDA talk of regulations to protect consumers from more outbreaks.... may be little more than bureaucratic saber-rattling."
Of course, a spokesman for the Center for Science in the Public Interest doesn't want to see a one or two year delay in implementing new standards that might protect the public. The industry must balance the danger of false assumptions about food safety regulations with the urgency to act in the consumers' interest.