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FDA Food Safety Reform: Context and Goals

FDA Food Safety Reform: Context and Goals. Michael R. Taylor Research Professor GWU School of Public Health and Health Services TFAH Congressional Briefing May 19, 2008. What is the Food Safety Problem?. Annual toll of foodborne illness 5,000 deaths 325,000 hospitalizations

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FDA Food Safety Reform: Context and Goals

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  1. FDA Food Safety Reform:Context and Goals Michael R. Taylor Research Professor GWU School of Public Health and Health Services TFAH Congressional Briefing May 19, 2008

  2. What is the Food Safety Problem? • Annual toll of foodborne illness • 5,000 deaths • 325,000 hospitalizations • Erosion of public confidence • Affecting well-being • Affecting food choices • Big economic and trade impacts

  3. Why Is Food Safety So Hard? • Vastness and diversity of the food system -- a trillion dollar share of the economy • Complexity of causation and prevention • Multiple causative factors for most illnesses • Multiple opportunities for prevention • Rapid change in the food supply • Technology • Consumer demand and behavior • Imports

  4. What is the Food Safety System? • Private sector • Producers • Processors • Retailers/Food Service • Public sector • Multiple federal agencies – FDA, USDA, EPA, CDC • State health and agriculture departments • Local health departments and sanitarians • Complex web of interactions • Among federal, state, and local agencies • Between public and private sectors

  5. What’s Wrong With the Systemat the Federal Level? • Obsolete statutes • Basic tools originated in 1906 and 1938 • Focus on reaction rather than prevention • Fragmented structure • FDA, USDA, and EPA share regulatory jurisdiction • FDA fragmented internally • No focal point for research • Poor use of inadequate resources • Wasteful USDA inspection system • Broad inefficiency in inducing prevention

  6. 1998 IOM Report

  7. What are Key Government Roles in a Modern Food Safety System? • Define standard of care for industry adoption of preventive measures • Set food safety standards as measure of accountability for performance • Inspect and enforce to ensure standards are met • Drive generation and dissemination of knowledge • Provide national and international leadership

  8. Why Focus First on FDA? • FDA oversees 80% of the food supply and faces more unsolved problems than USDA • FDA is more eroded in its resource and leadership capacity than USDA • Food safety leadership belongs in HHS and FDA is the right platform on which to build • FDA’s constituencies are ready for reform

  9. What are the Key FDA Reforms? • Mandate for leadership on prevention • Research and surveillance • Regulation • Education • Modern legal tools for prevention • Mandatory preventive process control • Food safety performance standards • Improved inspection and enforcement, especially for imports • Enlarged and stable resource base coupled with risk-based resource allocation • Organizational reform to unify and elevate food safety leadership

  10. Questions Michael R. Taylor Research Professor School of Public Health and Health Services The George Washington University mike.taylor@gwumc.edu 202-530-3922

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