In 2010 Congress passed a law that allowed the Food and Drug Administration to create new rules and powers to prevent further food outbreaks that were getting people sicks. However, Congress has not provided the money to the FDA to enforce these practices. The FDA requested 580 million dollars to make these changes, but Congress has given them less than half of this amount.
An estimated 48 million Americans have food-borne illnesses each year, but without the required funding for these changes this number could increase. Since Congress is in the hands of Republicans and they are trying to cut back on spending the FDA is not sure they will receive the money they need. “If we keep shortchanging the F.D.A., it will continue to cost us billions of dollars a year to deal with food-borne illness,” said Ms. DeLauro, a member of the appropriations subcommittee that oversees the agency’s funding.
Without the proper funding the FDA will not be able to train 2,000 employees on the new standards that are required in food safety. It is also believed that the agency will not be able to oversee food imports as strictly as they would like. Harold Rogers, Republican of Kentucky said that anything more than 100 million dollars will be hard to give to the FDA. Should the FDA get the money it is asking for or are they asking for too much at the wrong time?
1 comment:
I thought your article was really interesting. I have not seen much in the media regarding food safety policy. It is something that should be highlighted more in American news because we live in one of the most obese countries in the world.
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