The FDA needs to be overhauled to make food safety enforcement more effective, according to a report by an outside agency.
The report from the Reagan-Udall Foundation recommended sweeping changes, including the establishment of a single individual in charge of food safety.
In scrutiny of the US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Human Food Program, an independent expert panel is arguing that the agency “lacks the resources and authority to do what is expected to do – ensure the safety and availability of food on the market.”
Last summer, when FDA Commissioner Robert Califf announced he’d asked the Reagan-Udall Foundation to review the agency’s foods program, the response around Washington wasn’t exactly positive.
The Food and Drug Administration’s Human Foods Program lacks leadership and mission clarity, leading to slow decision-making and weak regulation of foodborne illness, according to a highly-anticipated, independent report on the FDA’s Human Foods Program.
The Reagan-Udall Foundation, a group with close ties to the FDA, released a 51-page report Tuesday noting the need for a clear mission in the program and more urgency to prevent illness outbreaks. FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf first sought the review in July.
The Food and Drug Administration’s food division has no clear leadership, avoids bold policy or enforcement actions, and fosters a culture that doesn’t adequately protect public health, according to a report issued on Tuesday by an agency-related group.
To help prevent outbreaks of food-related illness and problems like the formula shortage that left many parents in the US without adequate access to food for their babies, the US Food and Drug Administration needs a clearer mission and a different kind of leadership, and it has to act with more urgency, according to a highly critical new report.
When Congress passed the the Tobacco Control Act in 2009, it amended the federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to give the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) the authority to regulate the manufacture, distribution and marketing of tobacco products for the first time.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has “significantly and substantially failed” to fulfill its congressional mandate to protect the public health, Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) told the Reagan-Udall Foundation in a letter.
There are no shortage of battles, or even just sharp disagreements, over how food and agriculture policy should work. At times, it can get downright ugly.
