Editor’s note: This opinion column was originally published by The Conversation and is republished here with permission.
The Trump administration on June 21 unveiled an ambitious plan to consolidate federal food safety efforts within the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Currently, 15 agencies throughout the federal government administer 35 different laws related to food safety under…
In mid-December, U.S. Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) introduced a bill that would move the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and its seafood inspections to the U.S. Department of the Interior. More broadly, the act transfers all functions of the U.S. Departments of Labor and Commerce to a newly established Department of Commerce and the…
U.S. Rep. Cynthia Lummis, a conservative Republican from Wyoming, is starting to sound a lot like her colleague Rep. Rose DeLauro, a liberal Democrat from Connecticut — at least when it comes to fixing the nation’s fragmented food safety system.
Citing a Government Accountability Office report on the issue, Rep. Lummis argued last week that …
We can go back to talking amongst ourselves about the theory of a single food safety agency in the United States. But in reality, the idea is now dead.
Let’s review.
On Jan. 13, President Obama announced he was asking Congress “to reinstate the authority that past presidents had, over decades, to reorganize the government.”…
The Obama Administration “is not ‘confirming’ food safety consolidation,” the subscription news service The Hagstrom Report now says. The newsletter reports:
“Although Jeff Zients, who is now White House Office of Management and Budget director, said recently that consolidation of food safety agencies would be one of those “addressed in subsequent, specific proposals,” an OMB …
Ten days ago, we kicked over a hornet’s nest by passing on a solid report suggesting the Obama Administration planned to use its newly sought “consolidation authority” to put all federal food safety functions under one roof.
Most hearing about Obama wanting “consolidation authority” heard about how it would be used to merge the government’s …
Food Safety News Editor Dan Flynn reported on Jan. 14, 2012 that if Congress gives the Obama Administration the authority to consolidate six agencies that deal with international trade into one agency, bringing together the two major food safety agencies into one would follow.
This possible move is not totally unexpected from this Administration, nor …
In 2009 I was asked by the editors of the New York Times to join in a discussion at “Room For Debate” about a single food-safety agency and to post a 300- to 400-word position statement on that issue. After whacking away at it, I finally got it down to size. Now, with renewed discussion …
A single federal food safety agency, long sought by many advocates, will happen if Congress grants the Obama Administration authority to reorganize the government, according to the subscription news service The Hagstrom Report.
In its Friday edition, The Hagstrom Report said Office of Management and Budget Director for Management, Jeff Zients, said that if Congress…
I’ve been challenged to find some policy planks for the Tea Party that would reduce the cost of federal food safety enforcement without putting the public at (greater) risk.
Here are a few thoughts, drawn from more than three decades of working in food safety.
Consolidate the food safety enforcement arms of FDA and USDA …
