Examining Food Safety From a Food Systems Perspective: The Need for a Holistic Approach

Abstract

There has been an effort to shift the focus of the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) food safety approach from reactive to preventative. The recently enacted Food Safety Modernization Act was hailed as a means to “transform the FDA from an agency that tracks down outbreaks after the fact, to an agency focused on preventing food contamination in the first place.” While this attempted proactivity is laudable in many respects, the United States’ overall approach toward food safety remains highly compartmentalized and is seemingly unable to consider safety concerns on a systemic scale. This has resulted in actions based on narrow and immediate justification with unanticipated negative consequences. This Article considers the inherently systemic nature of our food system and the inability of the agencies involved to address it as such.

Keywords: food, food safety, systemic, holistic, diet, sustainable, government, agriculture

JEL Classification: I, K, Q