House Passes Huge Cuts to Food Safety

The House has just cleared the new agriculture appropriations for the 2012 fiscal year. The new budget will include some rather significant cuts to federal food safety programs, according to Food Safety News.

The FDA will take on the biggest cuts including a $285 million cut from the budget. Specifically, an 11.5 percent cut in discretionary funding as well as an $87 million cut to food safety programs. The USDA will take less dramatic hits including a $35 million overall cut and a 4 percent cut from meat, poultry, and egg inspection, according to the story.

This comes on the heels of the widespread e. coli tragedy in Europe, considered one of the worst in history. Food safety reformers are calling this a huge misstep and fear an equally devastating outbreak in the U.S. with such huge cuts to overall food safety programs.

"This sort of fatal outbreak could all too easily happen here. In many ways, we have been extraordinarily lucky that it has not happened more often," said Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT). "In recent years, all types of food have become contaminated and forced into recall from Fruit Loops to SpaghettiOs and salami to eggs. We have to be continually vigilant on the food safety front to keep families safe."

It's an unfortunate reality that it's difficult to depend on others for our own food safety. Imports are especially tricky, a reality that proved lethal abroad. While Federal food safety is crucially important to public health, it becomes increasingly important to take matters into your hands whenever possible. We can't be perfect because our food system has become such a global enterprise. But there are steps we can take.

Take a week to source every single food you eat and find out where it's all coming from. Next up, make changes where you can. The most obvious places are produce, dairy, and meat. Consider giving up meat and eggs for additional security especially if you can't find good local providers. It's not to say that this prevents food safety blunders, but the scale is much smaller and it's far less likely.

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