U.S. Food Safety: Home-Grown Problems Abound

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Both the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) are charged with keeping the country's food supply safe. Yet the division of labor, and funding, between the two agencies shows where some of the problem may lie: The FDA receives 20 percent of the food safety budget, yet is responsible for 80 percent of the burden, while the USDA gets 80 percent of the budget for 20 percent of the responsibility. The USDA handles meat, poultry and certain egg products. The FDA handles everything else.

On top of that, according to Parish and Hansen, the FDA has about one-tenth of the number of inspectors as the USDA does and has actually reduced the number of produce inspectors it employs.

Some estimates suggest there are 12 percent fewer FDA employees in field offices who concentrate on food issues, with safety tests for domestically produced foods down almost 75 percent -- from 9,748 in 2003 to 2,455 in 2006.

"The FDA doesn't have anything like continuous oversight," Parish said. "The FSIS [Food Safety and Inspection Service, part of the USDA], on the other hand, has continuous oversight where an inspector has to physically be at the plant at least during part of the day."

Despite mounting criticism, federal regulators steadfastly defend their record.

"I think the agency is doing an excellent job, given the resource challenges," said Michael Rogers, director of the Office of Field Investigations at the FDA. "I would compare our track record to anyone's."

What about overlaps with the USDA?

"Both agencies have a major role to play with respect to public health protection," Rogers said. "I don't know that moving around boxes [shuffling responsibilities between agencies] is a starting point for discussion."

"I don't see redundancy as a negative," he added. "I can't see downsides to redundancies and some overlaps in responsibilities and regulations if it results in additional oversight and regulation for that industry."

A Patchwork of Responsibilities