foodperson.com

Overall, the U.S. food supply is quite safe, but, if we don’t watch out, our state governments will be barred from making it safer. That’s because Congress has advanced legislation to forbid states to pass food safety rules that are more rigorous than the federal rules. Fortunately, there’s still time to stop it. As I read on Barry Estabrook’s Gourmet blog recently, a movement is afoot to halt the legislation, innocuously called the National Uniformity in Food Act of 2005. (Yes, 2005; seems as though someone’s been working a long time to get the thing passed.) The Center for Food Safety gives some background on the issue and encourages people to contact their U.S. senators to argue against the bill.

I don’t know that the states could do a better job than the feds, and I’m sure it could be a problem for some food processors to have to deal with assorted state regulations. Still, recent problems with melamine (most recently), contaminated peanut butter and, last year, tainted spinach do make me wonder whether our food could be safer. That’s not even counting ongoing concerns about salmonella, listeria and e-coli infections nor unanswered questions about the wisdom of planting genetically modified crops out where they might cross-pollinate with “normal” varieties.

In fact, Marian Burros in the New York Times article “Who’s Watching What We Eat?” quoted Dr. David A. Kessler, a former Food & Drug Administration commissioner as saying, “Our food safety system is broken.” Supporters of the Uniformity in Food Act must think that’s just fine.

Still, until the U.S. government does a better job with our food (which I suspect it could if it provided the staff to enforce existing regulations), I’m not sure I’m ready to bar local control. If you want to read the other side, go to the National Uniformity for Food Coalition website. Looks like both my senators are sponsors. Think I can change their minds?

In the meantime, the good news is that others in Congress are listening to calls for the FDA to be reformed. Read Burros’ article to find out more.