Who's on First: Unraveling the Complexity of the United States' Food and Agricultural Regulatory System in the Realm of Homeland Security

摘要

The food and agricultural sector received the designation of critical infrastructure important to national security after the events of September 11, 2001. With an increase of food-borne illnesses at the national level since the new designation, there has been increased concern about the current regulatory approach to the sector, in the paradigm of homeland defense and security. A continuing reliance on a complex web of regulatory oversight from multiple agencies from both unintentional and intentional contamination of the food supply sets the premise for the overarching research question and argument for the thesis. Is it time to restructure the food safety regulatory system into one federal governmental agency to provide a more effective agency and better regulatory oversight; greater collaboration among federal, state, and local agencies; and a smarter focus to a globally expanding and vulnerable sector. Chapter II provides an overview of the U.S. food safety regulatory structure, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Homeland Security, and Environmental Protection Agency. Chapter III explores the challenges and gaps in this food and agricultural regulatory structure. Chapter IV looks into threats to the food/agricultural infrastructure and discusses the importance of the infrastructure. Chapter V includes a comparison of changes made to the regulatory systems of three developed countries (United Kingdom, Germany, and Canada). These changes consolidated their food/agricultural regulatory structures into a single, modernized regulatory footprint. Chapter VI examines proposals by others to improve our regulatory structure. Chapter VII presents a conceptual framework (organizational structure) for a consolidated food and agricultural safety oversight administration based on the best proposals for change. Chapter VIII is intended to stimulate ideas among those interested in food safety/defense.