More FDA Funding Doesn't Equal Better Food Safety

Senior officials at agencies routinely ask Congress for more funding, so the latest call from the Food and Drug Administration’s Michael Taylor for more money to implement regulations promulgated under the Food Safety Modernization Act isn’t that unusual. But regulators rarely provide evidence that additional funding will actually help solve the social problems the money is intended to address.

According to Taylor, the food safety law means that the FDA “cannot do all that is asked of us without additional resources.” Based on the last time the agency got an infusion of cash, however, it’s not clear what the agency can do even if it has all of the additional resources it asks for.

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