Report says FDA struggles to keep food safe

A new report says the Food and Drug Administration is stretched thin and needs to reorganize to better keep the nation's food safe. The report released by the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council Tuesday says the agency needs to become more efficient and better target its limited dollars to prevent foodborne illness outbreaks. The 500-page report says the FDA lacks the vision necessary to protect consumers. Robert Wallace, chairman of the committee that authored the report, said the FDA is too often reactive and not focused enough on prevention. The report recommends the agency focus on preventing outbreaks in the riskiest foods rather than tackling problems on a case-by-case basis...more

So another federal agency is inefficient and under performs.

And the Congressional reaction is? Why give them more authority of course.

Many of the report's recommendations would be met under food safety legislation passed by the House last year. That includes giving the agency greater authority in many areas...

Rest assured that with the new authority will come more dollars.


Finally, there is the sure-fired cure for inefficiency: centralization.

The report recommends that the government improve coordination with state food safety agencies and move toward creating a single food safety agency to combine all of those efforts...

Centralization of power has been so conducive to efficiency and liberty throughout history. Yes, I'm sure that's why they recommend it.

I'm sure we are all surprised, though, that an entity like the Institute of Medicine - which is so dependent on federal funding - would actually recommend that a provider of such funding should receive more power and more money.

Besides, the FDA has only been around for 104 years. Surely we should grant them some more time to get it right.