Obama Foodorama reacts to the announced formation of the Food Safety Working Group in the president’s weekly address to the nation last Saturday:
[I]t seems clear that rather than trying to re-invent the wheel at a moment in time when the American food system is in crisis mode, the White House is looking to coordinate all the resources currently available to monitor food safety. The FSWG will be chaired by the very bizzy Tom Vilsack, Secretary of Ag; and Kathleen Sebelius, the nom for Secretary of Health and Human Services… With luck, it’ll be filled with senior officials from other agencies who will advise Bam on improving food safety coordination throughout the government, and there’ll be an attempt to upgrade food safety laws, as well as better enforce existing laws. But let’s be honest: Tom Vilsack is exceptionally bizzy turning the USDA into the New Energy Department, and Kathleen Sebelius is charged with a total revamp of the nation’s health care system. It’s worrisome….
To remind, there are currently twelve different regulatory agencies that can impact the Obama cupcakes on your Lincoln china. For instance, the menu for the recent Charm Offensive Dinner included salmon from Canada, produce from at least three different states, dairy products, grains, and wine, and thus the ingredients were regulated by the USDA, the FDA, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, the National Marine Fisheries Service, and the Bureau of Commerce. That’s a lot of federal activity for a couple hours of wooing Republicans! There’s also, currently, underfunding for inspectors and inspections, outdated lab equipment and an almost complete lack of coordination and communication between the CDC, the FDA, the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service…and…and…and things couldn’t possibly get any worse…
Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), sponsor of H.R. 875, the Food Safety Modernization Act, which seeks to remove food oversight from the FDA, has already issued a warning about moving forward with the current system in place. While she applauds the creation of the FSWG, Rep. DeLauro points out that:
It is imperative that the Administration ensures that the working group is not merely a cosmetic bureaucratic endeavor. The working group must produce definitive recommendations that result in the modernization of our food safety regulatory structure and an integration of our food safety functions.
Some foodies are frightened by that Food Safety Modernization Act, suggesting it threatens the end of farmer’s markets. A fuller discussion is here. I imagine I will learn more about the threat, or lack thereof, at the Georgia Organics Conference this weekend.