Staff Editorial: Pathogenic villains beware! The FDA is back!

E Coli and Salmonella beware!

Consumers and the federal government alike are on to your shenanigans! The FDA is on its way to clean away food pathogen fiends!

Passed this week in the Senate, a bipartisan bill (that’s right, bipartisan without conflict or deadlock) has given the Food and Drug Administration more intervening powers in food production in response to an overall increasing trend in food pathogen outbreaks. This year alone, eggs, alfalfa sprouts, pistachios, spinach and peanut products were all recalled after thousands were sickened and many died.

This unacceptable failure finally alerted Congress to lagging FDA regulations in a deteriorating industry. The overall revamp focuses more on preventing the production and marketing of unsafe foods instead of only cracking down on repeat offenders and punishing companies for outbreaks.

The new bill would give the FDA several new powers that for some reason it did not have before. First and foremost, the FDA will gain the ability to recall tainted foods. (It couldn’t do that before?) Historically, when the FDA has found issues with a certain food, it has asked the corporation to recall the certain crop or tainted product.

While all corporations have eventually recalled the foods in question, it’s the crucial days between the identification of an outbreak and the actual recall that have consumer groups, and now even major food manufacturers, worried. As legislation goes, a step saved is a good step, and faster action now means more lives saved.
 
Second, the FDA can now authorize more inspections per year, especially in problematic areas. Previously, annual inspections were common, but the FDA is now able to authorize multiple inspections annually, especially in food processing industries that are notorious for outbreaks.

Finally, the bill adds many updates to the regulatory system. The FDA will now be authorized to inspect imported foods more closely and even in some cases inspect food processing plants overseas. As food imports from abroad rise, it makes sense to regulate these incoming foods (tainted milk from China, anyone?). Furthermore, the FDA will now oversee more parts of the farming industry to ensure safe practices are maintained during production of food as well as processing.

Before conservatives label this as Obama’s dirty regulatory hand reaching into the sacred free market, they should look at how the free market has historically protected consumers from unsafe foods. In 1996, the average number of food contaminated outbreaks was at 14.27 per 100,000 people. In 2009, this number more than tripled to 46.35 per 100,000 people. Also, the consumer does not have the knowledge or ability to accurately choose products that are more relevant to safe and clean food practice standards.

Consumers don’t see a detailed list of how peanut butter is processed when they buy JIF from Kroger. They see a price.

This price does not fully internalize the safety practices of a corporation or even if the food was contaminated.

In fact, Upton Sinclair would argue that, without regulation, corporations would seek decreased costs, and therefore, minimal safety measures. If an outbreak occurs, we should not wait for the market to reduce the profits of the wrongful corporation and possibly let thousands get sick or die. If people’s lives are at stake, there needs to be immediate accountability throughout the food industry; there needs to be an oversight body.

While maybe in theory the market would solve these issues, in reality we must come up with a more realistic solution. Therefore, the FDA and its new powers will be a great consumer asset.