With Senate vote, FDA embraces slow(er) food movement
Gardiner Harris and William Neuman’s report in the New York Times at the Senate vote approving new food inspection powers for the Food and Drug Administration hints at a key question: how will the FDA manage its new responsibilities? The change, which now must be approved in the House, is significant:
The bill is intended to keep unsafe foods from reaching markets and restaurants, where they can make people sick — a change from the current practice, which mainly involves cracking down after outbreaks occur.
As a result, the FDA will gain new powers to inspect sources of food products overseas and in the U.S. It will be able to “recall tainted foods, increase inspections, [and] demand accountability from food companies and oversee farming.”
But changing the culture at FDA will be hard. (more…)
