Congress is presented with a new plan for keeping food safe

Three prominent members of Congress have called for revamping the way food is safeguarded in the U.S., a development that could realize safety advocates’ longtime call for consolidating federal protections under a single watchdog agency.

The introduction of legislation creating a single federal food-safety agency follows a flurry of food contaminations this summer, including an ongoing listeria contamination that’s been traced to deli meats. Restaurants have been touched by several of the outbreaks, including a salmonella contamination of cucumbers that sickened more than 300 people.

No one is suggesting a reorganization of the food safety net would prevent future outbreaks. But critics of the current set-up—multiple watchdogs, each monitoring a different portion of the food supply chain—is inefficient and illogical. They cite a hypothetical problem with pizza as an illustration. If a contamination is traced to the pepperoni used as a topping, the U.S. Department of Agriculture would have oversight. If the imported tomato sauce was the suspect ingredient, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has the responsibility of ensuring bad batches are intercepted. If it’s the processed cheese or the crust that’s the focus, the Food & Drug Administration has jurisdictions.

In total, 16 federal agencies have a role in protecting the nation’s food supply, from the National Marine Fisheries Service to the Environmental Protection Agency.  

The twin bills introduced Tuesday by Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Connecticut and Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, would consolidate those agencies and others that wield food-safety oversight into a single entity, the Federal Food Administration. It would be part of the Department of Health and Human Services.  

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Connecticut, was a co-sponsor of the Senate version of the measure.

Food-safety advocates have been calling for a similar move for years. They’ve been thwarted by the sheer scale of the task, plus the political considerations of shearing power from the current watchdogs.

The new conversation comes as debate continues over a monumental food-safety move that will affect all restaurants, along with supermarkets, c-stores or any other business that sells food. A new law mandates that all parties in the food chain have a precisely detailed traceability program in place by 2026. All links in the chain would be required to have information readily available on their food sources and who next received the products.

The near-universal expectation is that the enactment date will be pushed back because of the logistic effort that’s involved.

A version of this story first appeared in sister publication Restaurant Business.