A group of food producing and consumer associations have addressed a letter to the Secretary of Health and Human Services expressing concern over the proposed changes at FDA intended to enhance food safety.  The organizations including STOP (Stop Foodborne Illness), the Association of Food and Drug Officials, the Consumer Brands Association and the American Frozen Food Institute, among others, claim that the reorganization proposed by FDA Commissioner, Dr. Robert Califf, “falls far short of what is required for FDA to succeed in its food safety mission”.

The stakeholders requested a meeting with the Secretary to review the proposed changes in relation to the recommendations of the Reagan-Udall Foundation.  The review documented significant deficiencies in organizational structure and a prevailing culture in the Agency that inhibited appropriate responses to food safety. This is exemplified by the response to the infant formula scandal, heavy metal contamination of baby food and juices and failure to resolve foodborne infections attributed to produce.

The major deficiency with the proposed organizational changes relate to lack of line authority by the intended Deputy Commissioner and continued fragmentation among groups within the FDA.

EGG-NEWS has previously criticized the approach proposed by Dr. Califf as rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.  A radical solution to the problems disclosed by the Reagan-Udall review can only be resolved by separating the food-related authority of the FDA into a separate entity that would also have to be combined with the current scope of jurisdiction of the USDA- FSIS to establish a comprehensive food safety agency analogous to the EPA and paralleling similar agencies in European nations.