Health groups join call for food safety overhaulHealth groups join call for food safety overhaul

Alan J. Liddle

WASHINGTON Two health care advocacy groups on Wednesday released a report they said examines the problems of the “fragmented and antiquated” current system for preventing foodborne illness in America and proposes fixes for the lead federal agencies.

The report released by the Trust for America’s Health and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is titled “Keeping America’s Food Safe: A Blueprint for Fixing the Food Safety System at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.” It is available online at http://healthyamericans.org/report/62/food-safety-2009

The report, in some ways echoing a number of reform pitches in recent years, calls for immediate action by President Barack Obama to consolidate food safety leadership within the Food and Drug Administration and for his administration to work with Congress to create a separate Food Safety Administration within HHS. It points out that currently no FDA official whose full-time job is food safety has line authority over all food safety functions.

The report’s creators said the FDA regulates “80 percent of the food supply” and that “the vast majority of known foodborne illnesses are associated with products regulated by FDA.” Among the incidents occurring on FDA’s watch, they said, is the ongoing salmonella outbreak related to salmonella-tainted peanut products and last year’s salmonella outbreak tied to imported Mexican peppers. The ongoing peanut-related outbreak has sickened nearly 700 people and may have contributed to the deaths of nine others, the FDA said.

Earlier this month, President Obama said he would create a designated group to advise him on ways to strengthen the country’s food safety laws and inspection capabilities shortly after the House and Senate began considering bills intended to do likewise.

In early March the Senate introduced the Food and Drug Administration Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009, which seeks broader federal powers to inspect food processed domestically and imported to the United States. The bill calls for $825 million in funding to increase the numbers of inspectors and inspection frequency.

The House bill, called the Safe Food Enforcement, Assessment, Standards and Targeting, or FEAST, also aims to bolster what for years has been called an inadequately staffed inspection system.

Both bills have garnered support from restaurant industry trade groups.

Trust for America’s Health is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to building a public health defense against disease. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is dedicated to helping Americans lead healthier lives and get the health care they need.

Contact Alan J. Liddle at [email protected].