“The Politico investigation, which focuses chiefly on food safety, nutrition, and structural issues within FDA, includes interviews with dozens of current and former senior FDA officials, industry representatives, members of Congress, and trade groups—all of them familiar with the inner workings of the FDA. Those who spoke with Politico for the investigation characterized the agency’s regulation of the food supply invariably as “ridiculous,” “impossible,” “broken,” “byzantine” and “a joke.” The piece notes even many agency supporters are now “questioning whether the agency is making the best use of its roughly $1 billion food budget,” pointing out that even though around two-thirds of that budget goes to pay for food safety inspections, “the number of food safety inspections performed each year has been going down despite increased resources.” Such complaints about the FDA—that the agency consistently does less with more—have been at the heart of my own criticisms of the agency over the years.”
…
“One of the more interesting responses to the Politico piece came from former senior FDA official Michael Taylor, who in a subsequent op-ed noted the “damning but fair picture” the investigation paints. He called for the FDA to be broken up, with its food safety oversight authority handed to a single food safety agency. That’s a plan that many—me included (though with plenty of caveats)—think could yield real results.
We’ve arrived at a point where most everyone seems to agree the FDA is falling short of fulfilling its mission and duties. But people still disagree about how to fix that fundamental problem. I think the ultimate problem isn’t, as the investigation suggests, that the FDA isn’t meeting consumer expectations or doing enough. Rather, I think the fault lies with the politicians, bureaucrats, and advocates who’ve convinced Americans that supporting bigger FDA budgets and stricter food regulations, including FSMA, will make our food supply safer and improve nutritional outcomes. The FDA has demonstrated it can’t do big things. Reducing the agency’s budget and narrowing its mission could help it to succeed at the small stuff.”
https://reason.com/2022/04/16/new-investigation-finds-fdas-food-safety-division-is-broken/