Earlier this week, the F.D.A. announced its latest regulation under the Bioterrorism Act of 2002. All "domestic and foreign facilities that manufacture/process, pack, or hold food for human or animal consumption in the USA" will have to officially register their business with the F.D.A. by December 12, 2003. By F.D.A. estimates, over 400,000 facilities will be required to register. Furthermore, the F.D.A. will require advanced notice of importation, by mail or other transport, of all food products entering the U.S.A. (from The Cheese Reporter).
How likely is, in fact, a threat of bioterrorism through contamination of our food supply? There is no precedent for this sort of action. We have become a global economy, and in making commerce between nations easier, we have become more vulnerable. But perhaps we are more likely to poison ourselves through the inadvertent introduction of noxios bacteria. This danger is the subject of Eric Schlosser's excellent book, Fast Food Nation. The positive side of this new regulation is that the F.D.A. will now have greater power to inspect food facilities, especially meat processing plants which may be the worst offenders, to punish violations, and to compell mandatory recalls. Ironic that pointing out the deliberate loopholes in politics designed to facilitate meat processing and known to endanger the public was not enough to illicit a change in policy, but mere fear of a bioterrorist attack is. Have we become a nation of fear?
But the mystery that comes to my mind is how the F.D.A. plans to sort through all this information. Inevitably, companies will fall through the cracks or be prohibited by beauracratic red tape. Already, increased security has resulted in a reduction of our cheese selection. Gone is the AOC unpasteurized camembert du normandie. Other cheeses, too, can no longer be found, and the cheese counter at The Cheese Board is looking mighty bare. And this is before the new regulation has taken place.