Fixing Food Safety Protecting America’s Food Supply from Farm-to-Fork Jeffrey Levi, PhD Executive Director, Trust for America’s Health May 19, 2008

Trust for America’s Health  A non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to saving lives by protecting the health of every community and working to make disease prevention a national priority.

Overview  Food safety system depends on archaic practices  New markets, new threats  System should emphasize prevention, not reaction  Short term and long term recommendations

The Public Health Threat  76 million Americans – one in four – are sickened by foodborne illness each year; 325,000 hospitalizations, 5,000 deaths.  Estimated $44 billion direct & indirect costs.  67 percent worry about food safety  Since January, FDA has issued over 80 recalls, alerts, withdrawals and warnings of unsafe or mislabeled food

A Fragmented System  Fragmented federal oversight: 15 agencies, 30 laws.  Limited funds for increasing authority.  Resources misaligned – FDA receives 40% of funding, but 85% of foodborne outbreaks are associated with FDA- regulated products.

An Archaic System  FDA inspects 1 percent of imports, little other oversight after food enters US.  Outdated FSIS (USDA) practices still required by law.  FDA’s CFSAN no match for modern threats.  Little food defense.  Inadequate federal, state and local collaboration.

Recommendations: Strengthen FDA  Short term strategies include: Farm-to-fork disease prevention: performance standards, prevention based strategies. Keep pace with modern threats. Monitor foreign imports and international practices.

Strengthen FDA (continued)  Align resources with highest-risk threats Double FDA funding over next 5 years and develop reliable funding stream. Realign funding to research, regulation, and education. Realign resources for inspections in the manner most likely to reduce disease.

Recommendations: Realign HHS  Midterm goal: Elevate food safety functions at FDA Realign all food functions at HHS. Align surveillance at CDC with other food efforts and with state and local efforts.

Recommendations: Integrate Food Safety Agencies  Long term goal: Fix FDA in near-term, consolidate federal food safety functions into single agency in long term. Should include: FSIS, FDA food functions, Center for Veterinary Medicine, FDA’s field resource, EPA’s food safety part of pesticide program. Review placement of CDC’s surveillance program.

Additional Information  Full report available:  Contact Rich Hamburg, Director of Government Relations, with questions: