AP Claims FDA is 'Stretched Thin,' Needs More Authority

Even the food police can’t catch every criminal.

At least that was the tone of a June 8 AP brief [1] regarding a report [2] by the Institute of Medicine and National Research Council claiming that the Food and Drug Administration is “stretched thin and needs to reorganize to better keep the nation’s food safe.” The study was “chartered” by Congress and reached the conclusion that more government will fix the broken government.

The AP story mentioned the FDA’s “limited dollars” and quoted report chairman Robert Wallace who said the FDA is “too often reactive and not focused enough on prevention.”

However, AP failed to mention the $318.3 million spending boost [3] the FDA received from President Obama for 2011. They also didn’t point out that the report’s call for “integrating food safety programs and educating the public,” would amount to more federal intervention:

“In an effort to normalize and integrate food safety practices across the nation, the FDA should provide standards to states and localities and oversee their implementation,” the report recommended.

The media have long cheered for more FDA funding [4], praised FDA regulations [5] and featured the FDA’s opinion without giving time to industry [6]. AP’s story maintained its support for the FDA, despite the fact that the government agency is struggling to perform its job [7].

Like this article? Sign up [8] for “The Balance Sheet,” BMI’s weekly e-mail newsletter.