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The Decline of Food Safety Regulations in America

Every day, millions of Americans consume food. They enjoy the flavors and appearance, and can it be affordable? However, Americans are completely oblivious about how food is grown, produced, what additives are added, and how it is packaged. Thankfully, the United States government has programs that enforce regulations to ensure food production, food safety, and security. At the beginning of the 20th century, the United States passed the “Pure Food and Drug Act”. This led to the creation of the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) and later the USDA (Department of Agriculture). These organizations were put into place to provide federal oversight over the issues I listed above, but what if I told you that these fail-safes are failing? Regulations are obsolete, and the food industry is shifting profits over the consumer’s health. With this said, things can and are being done. Individually and politically, Americans need to resolve this issue and ensure we have affordable and healthy food for American consumers. We need to modernize our food industry, more oversight is needed to ensure safety, and most importantly. Food producers need to provide more transparency in what goes on behind the scenes. Such as, what additives, and other chemicals are used in the production.

Today, food products are promoting food labels offering contradicting, vague, or downright disingenuous labels. This issue has caused Americans to make misinformed decisions on what foods are safe and healthy to eat. In 1994, DSHEA (Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act) was passed, reducing the FDA’s authority. This explained that it exempted dietary supplements from meeting specific regulations. This was one of the many steps in how food regulators began to show signs of faltering. Before this happened, the federal government was much more attentive to false labels. One example was in 1931 when the Federal government seized cases of a product called “Bred Spred”. The product was a strawberry jam that federal prosecutors claimed was an imitation food product and could be misleading its customers. Prosecutors felt that if consumers knew this, then the product wouldn’t be purchased. The case was tied up in court because of the confusion over “Jam”, but it forced the government to pass more laws that were detailed and tailored to the food market of the time. However, failures would still occur, and more questions would have to be asked. In Virginia, an Ice cream factory would have to shut down due to Listeria contamination in the water system. The water backflow could cause a serious risk to the facilities’ water supply system. This would trigger a nationwide recall of Ice Cream bars. In 2009, both the FDA and USDA were forced to address Listeria issues again. Sadly, this evaluation would show a failure of both organizations. Listeria infections can have negative effects on the elderly, pregnant women, infants, and people with weakened immune systems. Despite the potential risks, the FDA chose to water down its “Zero Tolerance policy” towards listeria inspections. The revised policy allowed the presence of listeria in “ready-to-eat” food. This would draw major criticism from food, medical, and consumer agencies. These cases and results show that there has been a gradual breakdown from being very textual, to reducing the rules for more leeway, and increasing the risks of potential foodborne illnesses. These examples show that a greater need for more oversight is necessary. There must be more scrutiny towards corporations putting profit over public safety. The examples presented highlight a trend in how government oversight has been weakened, and bad practices have been emerging.

While there have been lax standards for potential foodborne illnesses, harmful additives are still being used, and questions are beginning to be asked why this hasn’t been addressed. Red Dye 40 has been in the news lately for misguided reasons. While some politicians are just using this to raise awareness for potential personal benefit, this one item is an example of an unhealthy additive that is used heavily and can cause serious medical complications. Dr. Lili Chen recently published a study about Red Dye 40, and the results were quite concerning. In her study, red dye was shown that it can potentially cause massive intestinal inflammation and severe cases of Colitis. The study also concluded that long-term ingesting causes future cases of colon cancer. Her study reached one basic conclusion. It is hazardous and it needs to be removed. Examples like this are why there are growing concerns that the FDA is falling behind the advancements of science and understanding of what is healthy, and what isn’t. Despite the findings, it’s clear that the FDA’s failure to adapt and improve is hindering the efforts to protect consumers from unhealthy risks. Government processes are being slowed, and regulations aren’t being enforced. The agency has been sluggish since Congress handed over all authority to them for decision-making in 1958.This is a clear breakdown and shows the Government’s “right hand doesn’t know what its left hand” is doing. The FDA is only inspecting about 2% of food imports. That means that 98% of food is off the radar. The Center Public Integrity in conjunction with the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State, the colleges of Harvard, Maryland, and Missouri spent 10 weeks researching this process. What they discovered was 48 million Americans get sick from bad food. 135,000 are hospitalized, and 3000 die annually. 80% of seafood entering the market isn’t vetted properly by inspectors. They concluded that the FDA had failed to follow up and close out newsletters about potential issues and were not closing outbreak cases correctly. This is an apparent systemic failure by the Federal government to protect American consumers from the possible dangers of unchecked food.

While there have been acts and provisions passed to help regulate the market. There is a clear sign that the current enforcement of regulations is beginning to fail and that actions are needed. This isn’t the first time we have been on this road. In the early 1900s, Upton Sinclair wrote a book called “The Jungle”. The book gave readers an inside look at the meat-packing industry and its treatment of the immigrants in horrible work conditions. He was hoping that his book would have an impact, but the size of the public’s reaction stunned the author. Sinclair was quoted as saying, “I aimed at the public’s heart, and by accident I hit it in the stomach.” The reaction was swift and caused Congress to pass the Food and Drug Act and the Inspection Act of 1906. It was the first time that the food industry would have regulations and oversight. As the industry changed and advancements were made, the federal government would apply new laws to keep up with the changes and ensure the public is protected. In 1938, Congress again made changes. They passed the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA). The Act gave the FDA the ability to oversee and regulate the production, sale, and distribution of food, drugs, medical devices, and cosmetics. This was triggered due to random cases of poisoning. Elixir sulfanilamide, an untested antibiotic containing the toxin diethylene glycol, led to over 100 deaths across 15 states. In the years since, regulations have become relaxed, and protecting the consumers has taken a backseat to making things easier for the corporations. An example of this process was the 2020 SECURE Rule. This would reduce federal oversight, particularly over genetically engineered crops. Instead of stronger safety rules, several of the genetically grown crops weren’t required to be evaluated by regulators. In her analysis, Margaret Grossman explained that the rule, “Reduced the regulatory burden on the biotechnology developers” by exempting “many of the genetically engineered crops” from complete oversight. Despite early efforts to enforce the regulations, and ensure accountability was being practiced. Complacency again would become the issue in the FDA’s inability to prevent preventable dangers to its consumers.

Annually, 3 million Americans get sick from various forms of harmful bacteria in the meat and poultry. Feces were likely contaminated as they can carry Salmonella, and E. Coli during the slaughter process. Failures are continuing to plague the food monitoring system, which can often lead to outbreaks that won’t be detected quickly. This can result in contaminated foods making their way into the stores, and eventually into someone’s home before anyone can realize what is happening. 47 million Americans are impacted by food insecurity, and the lack of access to nutritious meals. The issues of impacting food are a result of systemic failures and proactive measures. The lack of secure food can cause serious consequences on Americans’ health and well-being. This issue can also have massive impacts on a person. They can lead to depression, anxiety, stress, and could impact academic and work performance. Personal responsibility does help, but in today’s market. The issues of financial security, affordability, and accessible food are still complicated. The federal government must play an important role in assisting its citizens in achieving this goal.

The United States created a safety net system to ensure the public was protected. Sadly, it has failed to keep up with the changes of the times. Over the years, there have been reforms to prevent some major health crises. With that said, the demands of the industrial market have raised calls for stronger regulations and offer more transparency in its food safety practices. Without these updates and reinforcements of regulations, millions of consumers could be at greater risk of illness or death. The government must take the lead on this. They have the ability but seem to lack the drive to want to take care of the citizens. Eventually, consumers must take precedence and not be secondary to corporate profits.

Works Cited

Center for Public Integrity. *Federal Agencies Falling Short in Protecting U.S. Food Supply*. Public Integrity, 2024, https://publicintegrity.org/health/federal-agencies-falling-short-in-protecting-u-s-food-supply.

Chen, Li, et al. “IFN-γ+ Cytotoxic CD4+ T Lymphocytes Are Involved in the Pathogenesis of Colitis Induced by IL-23 and the Food Colorant Red 40.” *Cellular & Molecular Immunology*, vol. 19, 2022, pp. 777–790. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41423-022-00964-3.

Curtis, Patricia A. *Guide to US Food Laws and Regulations*. 2nd ed., Wiley-Blackwell, 2013.

Feeding America. “Hunger in America.” *Feeding America*, 2024, https://www.feedingamerica.org/hunger-in-america.

Grossman, Margaret Rosso. “The SECURE Rule: New Regulations for Crop Biotechnology in the United States.” *European Food and Feed Law Review*, vol. 15, no. 6, 2020, pp. 548–562.

National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI). *Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA)*. *StatPearls*, National Library of Medicine, 2023, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK209119.

O'Reilly, James T. *A Consumer’s Guide to Food Regulation and Safety*. Oceana, 2010.

Sinclair, Upton. *The Jungle*. G&D Media, 2020.

U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). “Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act).” *U.S. Food and Drug Administration*, 2024, https://www.fda.gov/regulatory-information/laws-enforced-fda/federal-food-drug-and-cosmetic-act-fdc-act.

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