We all want better, more robust food safety. And there’s lots of Congressional rhetoric to that effect.
That's nice -- but rhetoric won’t put more inspectors on the street. That takes the do-re-mi.
Representative Rosa DeLauro says she will introduce a bill that would take food safety away from the FDA and place those duties at a new Food Safety Administration within HHS.
But it's not where the responsibilities reside – it’s the budget available to do the job. And if you think the drug side of the FDA is under-funded (and it is) then get ready for this – the food side is even worse off.
(One former top FDA food safety official, when told he would have to “do more with less,” replied, “How about this – how about we do less with less.” He resigned shortly thereafter.)
When you fund CFSAN with peanuts -- you reap what you sow.
Check please.
Ms. DeLauro’s proposal (along with most of the others being offered) would give the FDA authority to order recalls, which are now voluntary.
Nice rhetorical flourish. But here’s the real deal – all recalls are “voluntary” (note quotation marks) but the companies being “asked” (note quotation marks) are always – like 100% of the time always -- compliant.
Change the verbiage, sure. But write the check.
And since Congress is paying attention to the FDA and the food side of the business, here’s something else to think about – dietary supplements.
In May 2007, the Supreme Court rejected an appeal from a unit of Nutraceutical International Corp. to overturn a Food and Drug Administration ban on its ephedra dietary supplements.
Nutraceutical sued the FDA in 2004 to block the agency's action on ephedra, arguing it was abusing its authority and misusing federal regulations in order to take action on the dietary supplement, which is generally regulated more like a food than a drug.
A
"This case offers a key test of whether the FDA will be required to observe the statutory boundary between foods and drugs,"
That ruling was good news for the public health -- but it raises urgent concerns as to why so-called "supplements" are regulated as food in the first place.
If Congress is looking at how the FDA regulates food (or even if it should continue to do so), our elected representatives should (indeed must!) debate significant reforms to DSHEA.
