Screen Shot 2017-03-14 at 5.18.07 PMI am finally getting through my food safety inbox and came across a letter dated a month ago from Senators, Gillibrand, Feinstein, Durbin and Blumenthal to President Trump asking for “action of food safety oversight” – namely wether the January 2017 GAO report on Food Safety – “A National Strategy Is Needed to Address Fragmentation in Federal Oversight.”

The letter highlights the lowlights of food safety – the human toll (48M sick, 128K hospitalized and 3K death) with an economic burden of some $36B.  It also highlights a discussion that has been ongoing for as long as I have been involved in food safety – namely, that the there are too many agencies working at cross purposes with very different agendas, monitoring our food supply for safety.

The letter ends with a request to work “with your Administration to create policies that promote the safety of our food supply and protect public health.”

So, Senators, did the President write you back?