Yesterday, Donald Trump’s presidential campaign team released a list of “specific regulations to be eliminated” if the Republican nominee is elected to the White House come November 8th. That statement, intended as a supplement to a speech given by Trump to the New York Economic Club, called to eliminate “the FDA Food Police”, suggesting that the agency’s policies had overreached. It also criticised increased inspections of food manufacturing facilities as “inspection overkill”.
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Donald Trump, who is made of McDonald’s, knows exactly how to improve food safety: Get rid of all the regulations.
After initial publication online, the fact sheet was removed and later replaced with a new one that contained no mention of the FDA. A 2011 outbreak of listeria linked to cantaloupes killed 33 people, and other large scale outbreaks in fresh spinach, cucumbers and eggs have sickened hundreds. Otherwise, the future may be one where all of the burritos have E.coli, all of the ice cream has listeria and all of the pills that are supposed to fix those issues are not tested.
The final food safety rules for produce issued past year and supported by the food industry require farmers to test irrigation water quality, regularly train workers on the best health and hygiene practices and monitor wildlife that may intrude on growing fields, among other measures. The rules are created to focus on the riskiest foods.
Former FDA deputy commissioner Michael Taylor says these views from a potential President could put millions of consumers in harm’s way.
The language in the Trump campaign fact sheet mirrors, nearly word for word, parts of a May report from The Heritage Foundation that criticizes increased regulation under President Barack Obama.
The FDA also recalls risky products and ensures companies comply with food safety regulations, and the organization recently finished implementing new procedures called for by the Food Safety Modernization Act, which is the largest food safety law reform in over 70 years.
In other words, he wants to make the very act of eating really, really unsafe.
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As we discussed past year, when your family sits down for dinner tonight, you probably won’t pause to think, “Is this food safe?” because, in the back of your mind, you’ll assume there’s an effective system in place enforcing certain safeguards. If you would like to discuss another topic, look for a relevant article.
