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Fixing Food Safety Protecting America’s Food Supply from Farm-to-Fork

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 .

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Fixing Food Safety Protecting America’s Food Supply from Farm-to-Fork

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

  2. 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.

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

  4. 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

  5. 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.

  6. 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 • Outdated FSIS (USDA) practices still required by law.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.

  7. 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.

  8. 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.

  9. 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.

  10. 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.

  11. Additional Information • Full report available: http://healthyamericans.org • Contact Rich Hamburg, Director of Government Relations, with questions: rhamburg@tfah.org.

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