Super Eco

Photo credit: sarah gilbert

Decrying the U.S. food safety system as a "hazard to public health" and calling the series of food contaminations over the past few years a "painful reminder of how tragic the consequences can be when food producers act irresponsibly and government is unable to do its job," President Barack Obama announced the creation of a Food Safety Working Group and the selection of former New York City Health Commissioner Margaret Hamburg as FDA commissioner. He appointed Baltimore Health Commissioner Joshua Sharfstein as deputy commissioner.

During his weekly address, President Obama said he was inspired to make big steps in the name of food safety to protect his daughters and their sandwiches; Sasha eats peanut butter several times each week, and when he first heard the news of the Peanut Corporation of America salmonella outbreak, he thought of her. "No parent should have to worry that their child is going to get sick from their lunch," he said.

Both Hamburg and Sharfstein are doctors, and Hamburg, a bioterrism expert, was President Clinton's assistant health secretary. Sharfstein challenged the FDA on the safety of over-the-counter cold medicines for children, leading to changes in labeling of many medicines. Obama's description of the Food Safety Working Group, which Hamburg would lead, seems to reflect the concept behind the Food Safety Modernization Act, which I criticized for its onerous requirements for small cafes and food producers, its unusual breadth, and its nearly unbounded and vague powers. However, the president did not mention the Act, or endorse it, in his comments.

Obama also announced he was closing a loophole that allows some so-called "downer cows" to be slaughtered for meat if they pass an additional screening.