New Report Urges Stand-Alone Food Safety Agency In HHS
Food safety has long been a battle fought on multiple fronts. Once again, the principle proves true. As we continue to report on the absence of effective food safety laws abroad, our colleagues here at home are working feverishly to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of our own food safety system.
Is it possible, some ask, that all federal food safety responsibilities might be integrated into a single food safety agency? Although not likely in the very short-term, it would seem, at the very least, that the table is being set. As the search continues for new solutions to new food safety challenges, Trust for America's Health, along with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, released a report advocating significant changes to our national food safety system. The report, Keeping America's Food Safe: A Blueprint for Fixing the Food Safety System at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, outlines various weaknesses in the current system, and proposes, among other things, numerous improvements to the food safety functions of the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”). In essence, the report advocates (as a first step) the creation of a new, stand-alone food agency within HHS.
Currently, the Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”), an agency within HHS, has responsibility for regulating the safety of drugs, medical devices and many foods. Although the United States Department of Agriculture, through its Food Safety and Inspection Service (“FSIS”), is responsibile for all meat, poultry and egg products sold in interstate commerce, the FDA regulates the safety of virtually all other foods (Learn how our food is currently regulated). To view the current, rather confusing, organizational structure of the FDA, click on the following link :
To increase efficiency (and decrease confusion), the new report urges Congress to quickly create a stand-alone Food Safety Administration (“FSA”) within HHS. Conceptually, the proposal would effectively split the FDA into two seperate agencies, each operating on the same plane - one devoted to food and the other devoted to drugs and medical devices. While the FSA would be responsible for regulating food safety, the drug and device sections of the FDA would become a separate agency called the “Federal Drug and Device Administration.” According to the report, a stand-alone food agency would fix the following key weaknesses under the current structure:
- Inadequate leadership, prioritization, and coordination within FDA: No FDA official whose full-time job is food safety has line authority over all food safety functions. FDA's three major food safety components are managed separately, hampering efforts to effectively prevent disease outbreaks.
- Inadequate technologies and inspection practices: Current laws and practices are antiquated. Existing laws date back to 1906 and 1938, and policies are disproportionately focused on monitoring food after it has been produced, instead of trying to prevent and detect problems throughout the entire production process. And, there is no system in place to keep inspection practices up-to-date with the constantly modernizing food production technologies and practices.
- Inadequate staffing and resources: The FDA's Science Board found the agency is chronically underfunded. While the U.S. Government Accountability Office reports the turnover rate in FDA science staff in key areas, including food safety, is twice that of other government agencies.
- Inadequate inspection of imports (my favorite): Only one percent of imported foods are currently inspected, even though approximately 60 percent of fresh fruits and vegetables and 75 percent of seafood Americans consume is imported.
A stand-alone food safety agency such as the FSA would also, according to the report's authors, result in integrated and accountable senior leadership, integrated public health and science functions, and integrated compliance and enforcement programs. Click here (or on the picture to the right) to view the proposed organizational structure of a new FSA. Ultimately, according to Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, president and CEO of RWJF, the proposal contained within the report is needed to ensure that "food safety [becomes] a priority on the prevention menu."
Notably, in addition to the significant proposed changes to the fundamental structure of FDA, the report advocates (as a second step) potential future changes to FSIS and other agencies as well. Although FSIS in the short-term would likey continue to operate within the USDA as a separate agency, the report ultimately recommends that all current federal food safety functions (including FSIS responsibilities) should eventually be integrated into a single food safety agency. Thus, although the proposed immediate changes to the FDA will likely garner the most attention as the report is studied and considered, pointed advocacy for a single food safety administration (for all federal food regulatory functions) will likely follow.
In any event, as part of its vision, the report also recommends that a spot at the table be cleared (assuming a new food safety agency is created) for a single Food Safety Czar. We, of course, will wait for a response from Congress and the Obama Administration before we offer our comments on potential candidates . . .
