White House Shines Webcam on a Shift in Food Safety's Political Dynamics
BY Nancy Scola | Wednesday, May 13 2009
If I might be so bold as to quote my own tweet from a minute ago, "Watching Rosa DeLauro evangelize against the fragmented food system on www.whitehouse.gov/live is exciting in at least two ways." At least two! The first is on political substance. For us food geeks, the antiquated and convoluted way the U.S. handles food safety is a constant source of agita. (I'm going bolding into the realm of self-promotion for the second time in a single post. About a year ago, I wrote on what's messed up about American food here.)
And the cause of that frustration bleeds into the second -- more tech-focused -- reason why the live web broadcast of the admittedly policy-light briefing happening right now is particularly compelling. (The policy stuff will be chewed over in off camera briefings. The White House is inviting comments via Twitter though the hashtag #WHsafefood, as well as through Facebook.) It's been 70 years or so since the last major overhaul of the American food safety system with FDR's creation of the FDA under the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. Getting that done took a hundred people dying from consuming what turned out to be antifreeze. Since then, the scattered advocates for food reform in Washington have been outgunned and outmatched by industry interests who are fairly okay with the way things are now, and a USDA aligned with their interests.
But today, that balance of power seems to be tipping. Via a live web stream hosted by the White House, those in DC who are passionate about fixing the American way of food are stepping out into the light. They are showing their collective strength. And via the web, they are connecting with renewed public concern over what we stuff into our pie holes. The hope for those of us interested in creating a more sane food system is that, together, that will and energy will be enough to create change before more people have to get sick or die.