The Associated Press is reporting that President Obama’s proposed budget calls for the consolidation of food safety functions into a single agency under the Department of Health and Human Services.
As reported by Mary Clare Jalonick @MCJalonik:
The budget says the current system’s “fractured oversight and disparate regulatory approaches” cause confusion. Consolidation “is an essential step to reforming the federal food safety system overall.”
The rationale for locating the new agency under HHS is because food safety and food-borne illness are considered public health concerns.
The proposal is expected to face stiff opposition.
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A bug in the system: a tale of food-borne illness(es) from the New Yorker