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Yay!! Applause!!! Of course this isn't enough to solve our nation's food safety problems, but good god, it's a great start! Of course, I question HOW they plan to go about increasing food safety because all too often the government-proposed solutions are actually non-solutions (like NAIS). Traceability sounds good, but in my opinion it is infinitely inferior to actual prevention of problems cropping up in the first place and to testing for harmful microbes.
Tanden said Obama is open to the idea of requiring a tracing system for fresh produce. That became an issue during this summer's salmonella outbreak, after the FDA spent weeks hunting for tainted tomatoes only to find the culprit might have been hot peppers.
"An Obama administration would swing the pendulum back more to protection of public health," said William Hubbard, a retired FDA official who held top posts. "This bodes well for greater regulation in the food safety area, on imports, and on drug safety."
The article also mentions possible appointments to head the FDA, and this is certainly something we should watch closely for clues on how an Obama FDA will operate:
Obama is being urged to move quickly to appoint an FDA commissioner. Already more than a half-dozen names are in circulation: outside critics such as Cleveland Clinic cardiologist Dr. Steven Nissen; insiders such as Susan Wood, a former director of the FDA's women's health office; and public health advocates such as Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, Baltimore's health chief.
Food safety will be a priority for Obama's FDA. "He thinks this is a fundamental role of government to ensure that people's food is safe and he has been concerned that we are not in a position to ensure that," said Neera Tanden, a senior campaign adviser. |
