Draft Report Calls for Food Safety Leadership Council

PRINCETON, N.J.—Enhancing State and Local Roles in Food Safety, a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation-sponsored project, held its third and final meeting Dec. 5 to review the project's draft final report.

The draft report provided 19 recommendations to Congress and public-health agencies, including a call for the secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to lead in the development of " ...an integrated national food-safety system that incorporates and enhances the food-safety capacity of state and local agencies."

The draft report also called for the official establishment of a Food Safety Leadership Council composed of the top food-safety officials from Centers for Disease Control (CDC), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and at least an equal number of representatives of state and local food-safety agencies. The draft report suggested a 5-year integration plan holding HHS and Congress accountable for achieving the outlined goals.

Representing the fresh produce industry, United Fresh Senior Vice President of Food Safety and Technology David Gombas, Ph.D., commended the project organizers on accurately capturing many of the obstacles the U.S. public-health system faces today when trying to coordinate and efficiently perform foodborne illness investigations.

The project's working group includes representatives from the CDC, USDA and FDA as well as allied associations at the federal, state, regional and local level and various private-sector companies.