The argument for a single food safety agency

A new GAO report looks at foodborne illness outbreaks from countries with a single food safety agency. From the office of Rep. Rosa DeLauro:


U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro (CT-3) today unveiled a Government Accountability Report (GAO) report examining foodborne illness outbreaks in countries with a single food safety agency. The report comes as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) continues a three-month investigation to determine whether tomatoes or jalapeños were the source of a salmonella outbreak, which sickened more than a thousand people . Durbin and DeLauro requested the report following a 2006 E. coli outbreak involving pre-packaged spinach (to view the request letter, please click here).

For two consecutive Congresses, Durbin and DeLauro have introduced The Safe Food Act (S. 654 and H.R. 1148 in the Senate and House respectively), which would consolidate all food safety activities into a single agency, responsible for the administration and enforcement of our food safety laws. Importantly, when enacted, it would create a national system for tracing food, point-of-origin to retail sale, which would have aided the investigation into the still unknown source of the current salmonella. Currently, there are at least 12 different federal agencies and 35 different laws governing food safety. With overlapping jurisdictions, federal agencies often lack accountability on food safety-related issues.

“This GAO report highlights how effectively a single food safety agency could protect our food supply. The findings in the report offer us in Congress important lessons on how to proceed with food safety reform legislation. Not only does the report outline the critical components that are necessary for an effective food safety system – traceback procedures, cooperative arrangements between public health officials, and mandatory recall authority – it also demonstrates that these measures can be implemented seamlessly under a system governed by a single food safety agency,” said DeLauro. “We must incorporate the philosophy used by the countries featured in the GAO report. By focusing on the entire food supply chain, placing primary responsibility for food safety on producers, and ensuring that food imports meet equivalent safety standards, only then could Congress adequately reform the U.S. food safety system.”

"Today's GAO report shows that America ranked eighth out of eight countries -- dead last -- in terms of national food safety systems. Why? The other countries studied have integrated food safety systems. Our practice of making piecemeal changes to outdated laws is simply ineffective," Durbin said. "I hope today's report serves as a wake-up call for the Administration and others in Congress. We need a thoughtful overhaul and reorganization of America’s food safety system. These changes don’t have to happen all at once. But they need to start now. "