The Gourmet holiday issue, overwhelmingly dominated by cookie recipes and seasonal food, also contains an surprising piece, Your Ignorance, Their Bliss,”by Michele Kayal. “If Congress passes the National Uniformity for Food Act, many state-required food regulations will be replaced with less stringent ones set by the FDA. Can this really be a good idea?” See: http://www.epicurious.com/gourmet/toc.
The article’s point: The Food and Drug Administration, already facing added duties in protecting the national food supply against acts of terrorism, could have to take over the duties of food labeling and standards from individual states. The National Uniformity for Food Act would replace stronger state food labeling and safety standards with weaker, federally mandated rules. Moreover, the rules would need to be researched and imposed by an agency whose resources have been increasingly cut back, even as its duties have expanded.
A chart with the piece tells the story of the incredible shrinking FDA:
BUDGET
2003: $47.6 million
2006: $30 million
2007: $25 million
FULL-TIME EMPLOYEES
2003: 950
2006: 881
2007: 817
Thanks to James Norton and the “The Grinder” for the lead on this story.
Neal D. Fortin
