Food Safety Relies on State and Local Agencies, Report Says

April 2009

The latest food poisoning outbreak involving contaminated peanut butter has prompted promises from Washington to overhaul the food safety system in order to protect public health. Experts say that any such strategy would not be successful unless state and local agencies are included in the plan.

A recent report on the topic says that localized agencies have problems responding to food poisoning outbreaks because of underfunding, varying availability of resources, and different methods of investigation that impede collaboration. The report asserts that these inconsistencies are a major problem because more food sampling, inspections, and enforcement is performed by state and local agencies than by the Food and Drug Administration.

The report offered 19 recommendations to improve the food safety system, including:

• Creating a network of regional, federally funded foodborne outbreak response centers, each staffed by a combination of federal, state, and local officials
• Congress establishing traceability requirements that allow federal, state, and local officials to obtain information from companies on the source of commodities, ingredients and finished products