Precaution Should Be Watchword of FDA, Says IOM

(FoodNavigator.com – Jane Byrne)

The Food and Drug Administration is not currently equipped to handle food safety problems and needs to switch to a risk based system, argues a report from the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council.

The committee that wrote the report states that the FDA’s abilities to discover potential threats to food safety and prevent outbreaks of foodborne illness are hindered by limited resources and a piecemeal approach to gathering and using information on risks.

Calls to overhaul America’s food safety system intensified last year on the back of a spate of multi-state foodborne illness outbreaks. Support from food manufacturers also strengthened after the salmonella outbreak linked to peanut products led to more than 700 illnesses and nine deaths, as well as one of the largest product recalls in U.S. history, at an estimated cost of at least $1bn. Read more here.

Related: FDA Chief: Agency Is Committed to Improving on Food Safety Issues (PBS Newshour)