Really bad ideas part deux Posted by Reggie at 01/24/06 02:11 PM

If there was such a thing as a pretzel logic award (Apologies to Steely Dan) it would certainly go to the food industry for pushing HR 4167, the federal food safety uniformity bill. The bill would prohibit state and local governments from taking any action concerning food safety unless it’s first OK’d by FDA. Here’s where you have to twist, stand on your head and cross your eyes to see the logic – somehow, consumers will be safer if the most knowledgeable and accountable officials -- the ones closest to the problem -- have to get an OK from the Feds to protect their commmunities. Don't forget that the feds are constantly bombarded and frequently corralled by industry lawyers and lobbyists.

Don’t take my word for it – AFDO, the Association of Food and Drug Officials and at least 10 states are strongly opposed to this bill. State and local governments are the first responders to food safety threats, whether the threat is sanitation in food processing or restaurants, food poisoning outbreaks or terrorist threats to the food supply. To the extent the US has the safest food supply in the world, we can attribute much of the safety to the unseen heroes at the state and local level who are inspecting, regulating and chasing down epidemiological clues that save the rest of us from risks ranging from just plain gross to down right lethal.

Unfortunately, a similar bill passed the House a few years ago, and the current version has picked up a surprising number of co-sponsors from both sides of the aisle. Could it be that we have taken these invisible heroes for granted? I for one regret not doing more to make sure everyone knows how indebted we are to the city, county and state officials who protect our food. Shame on the industry for pushing this!

comments (1)

1 Posted by EJRowe at 02/01/06 02:42 PM

I cannot believe that anyone in America would try to restrict the ability of local governments to label food for safety. Absolutely the only reason for doing so would be to save food merchants money by making national (and I suppose, eventually, international) regulations uniform. So their profits are more important than the public safety? *&() NO!
Even local regulators can not keep abreast of everything. How much more episodic and haphazard would our inspections and regulations be if they were only controlled from Washington?