Introduction

In today's developed world, few aspects of life are taken so thoroughly for granted as the safety of the food we eat. Yet the task of providing unspoiled, unadulterated food to hundreds of millions of people every day has never been easy -- and it is becoming more difficult and more complex all the time.

One reason for this is the simple fact that Americans are eating unprecedented quantities of imported foods. Our current inspection systems are unfit for the challenge of monitoring the growing stream of edible goods from other nations. China -- which exported $4.2 billion worth of food and agriculture products to the United States last year, a more than four-fold increase in little over a decade -- poses an especially stern test for our import-regulation system.

This issue is beginning to garner serious attention. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said it would confiscate certain categories of Chinese seafood after tests showed the presence of additives banned in the United States. A much-publicized recall of pet food containing contaminated Chinese wheat gluten (an ingredient commonly used in foods intended for human as well as animal consumption) further highlighted the dangers.

In response to the growing concern, the Bush administration recently announced a new Cabinet-level working group to investigate the issue of import safety, particularly in the food sector. The political ramifications of food safety are not only domestic; the topic has found its way into the diplomatic realm, as China and the United States have traded tit-for-tat import restrictions, with each nation accusing the other of unsafe food-production practices.

Yet it is vital to remember that while the rise in imports presents a genuine and growing challenge to the safety of our nation's food supply, the need for improved food-inspection policies transcends the import issue. Americans have long deserved a better inspection system -- one that makes more efficient use of taxpayer dollars and does a better job of guarding consumers against unsafe food -- no matter its origin.

While U.S. food supply is generally considered very safe, the last year has seen outbreaks of E. coli-tainted spinach, salmonella-laced peanut butter, and many other less-publicized cases. Each year, more than 76 million Americans get sick from eating spoiled, contaminated, or adulterated food -- from both domestic and foreign sources. Each year, these incidents result in approximately 325,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths.

The drumbeat of food-contamination incidents has taken a toll on public faith in the food-inspection system. A survey conducted in September 2006 -- after the spinach outbreak but before the pet-food scare -- found that "only 30 percent of 1,000 randomly selected participants had a great deal of confidence that the [FDA] could ensure the safety of their food." In January 2007, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) designated the federal oversight of food safety a high-risk area for the first time.

Not since Upton Sinclair exposed the horrors of the meatpacking industry in The Jungle has there been a more appropriate time to take a fresh look at food safety and offer positive suggestions for reinventing the government's approach to this critical task.

This paper will offer five simple ideas to improve food safety.