Pros of a Single Food Agency

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Introduction
Food regulation in the United States has been a controversial subject in decades. There are segmentations in the food regulation with many agencies which control specific food products. Federal, state and local authorities have played different roles in regulating food. Challenges that face the food industry have led to bills that advocate for a single food agency that would have a central authority. This essay discusses the advantages and disadvantages of a single food agency to lay a basis for evaluating the need of implementing it in the United States.
Pros of a Single Food Agency
Creation of a single food agency will facilitate coordination of food safety practices. The primary food safety agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service are experiencing poor coordination of activities, (Robinson, 2005). Through a single food agency the safety of all foodstuffs such as meat, poultry, egg products, and sea food can be coordinated by a single body. It makes no sense to have one body to control chicken and another to control eggs, (Leibovitch, 2008).The coordination mechanism will involve a centralized, executive leadership led by a single chair who would be appointed by the president.
The potential for future outbreaks will be reduced through a single food agency. A provision by the law that would give the single agency central authority will ensure more frequent inspection thus reduce outbreaks such as those caused by E. coli. A single food safety administration would transfer the regulations of the various agencies to the single agency hence give it central authority to create policies of preventing outbreaks. Though some programs such as Salmonella control have been successful various food safety agencies, other dangerous food borne pathogens such as Toxoplasma are being forgotten by the various agencies due to limited control, (Hunter, 2001).
Efficiency in the use of resources will be made possible through a single food agency. Funding for food safety will be centralized. The current financial flows to the existing agencies should be transferred to a single food agency because federal agencies do not use their inspection resources efficiently, (Robinson, 2005).
Implementation of the best food safety practices will be possible through a single food agency, (Krapohl, 2004). Unifying food safety efforts will result to objective analysis of the risks posed by different food types to promote efficient and ...