Department of Food?

In response to the most recent peanut butter recall, the NY Times "Room for Debate" has asked some experts: Would creating a single Department of Food better protect consumers? And how could the current crisis have been prevented?

Whether or not each of these contributors feel that a single department is necessary, all agree that the current food safety system is unfortunately reactive when it needs to be preventative, that it is broken, and that it's in desperate need of an overhaul or reinvention. Not surprisingly, I like what Ann Cooper had to say:

"If we want to make disease outbreaks a thing of the past, we have to move away from this industrial model of food production to one that is more localized and able to put a higher priority on children’s health, the environment and the health of sustainable businesses."

Get in on the conversation here.