It's making us sick, in the immediate sense, too

Food Safety has become a hot button issue recently, as we reel from and react to tainted spinach, tomatoes and, now, peanut butter. A report from the NYT today runs with the headline that we're backsliding in terms of food safety (U.S. Food Safety No Longer Improving). (NB: The article states that for a variety of food borne illnesses, the evidence is not statistically significant.) Even the Associate Commissioner for Foods at the FDA, David Acheson, clearly states that the "FDA needs to do more inspections". I think they've known this is true for quite a while, and my question is HOW? And when?

One issue is that the amount of people who are made sick from food borne illnesses are really just a "best guestimate", which is derived from the amount of people who become ill enough to see a doctor and for whom the doctor then decides to request further testing. It's a little bit shaky, but shouldn't the point be preventing the illnesses altogether? I understand the value of determining a way to monitor and measure the amount of people made sick from food (in the immediate, not chronic/long term, sense), and the necessity of tracing the food back to the origin, but from a food safety perpspective, and a health perspective, shouldn't we focus more on stopping contamination at its source and having stringent enough regulations to make that a priority for food companies? Haven't we heard this story now three times?

(A more preventive-focused health care system would also be step in the right direction, but that's a blog for another day.)

It seems like most can agree the current system isn't working, but whether we can fix the system we have or need to draft a new "Department of Food" is up for debate (NYT's Room for Debate: Do we need a Department of Food?). The NYT article focuses primarily on issues of food safety, but if we're dreaming (and, at this point, I think we really are), why couldn't we have a department of food that coordinates with both the FDA and USDA, focuses on food safety, nutrition and public health, and food production's relationship with the environment (the health of the earth) and our own health? For too long, I think, there has been a tug of war between the USDA and the FDA, between nutrition and the enviroment, between cheap food and good food. There are a lot of problems, and I would ideally like to see a fresh start. One in which everyone involved, from consumers, doctors and public health advocates, the USDA, the FDA, DHHS, and environmental groups, work together to find a way forward.

While something like this may be possible in the long term, the folks in the Room for Debate article bring up that there are some immediate issues that need to be addressed before worrying over creating a new governmental agency. Solutions such as removing officials who advocate for agribusiness, creating tax breaks for companies that implement and follow food safety measures and hefty fines for those that contaminate the food supply are all excellent ones, and seem doable. I highly recommend the article.