regulated products. Many think that an organization that promotes and subsidizes production agriculture and other consumer products should be separate from one that watches over food safety.

The meaning of "food safety" responsibilities continues to expand. Food safety functions of federal agencies have come to signify certain responsibilities regarding foods. The responsibilities were aptly defined in an FDA report to Congress:

USDA carries out similar functions for meats, poultry, and certain egg products.

Whether all food should be regulated by the same or different agencies is currently under debate. Some argue that a clearer direction to food safety policy could emerge if a single, independent agency were charged with administering all food safety programs. Others oppose forming a single agency, asserting that the various agencies with differing expertise strike a balance among divergent interests.

This report contains 21 separate sets of recommendations that have had a significant impact on the debate over whether the federal organization that ensures safe food needs to be changed. This debate has recurred over 48 years with long periods when little interest was expressed in changing the organization for federal food safety. The debate has been carried on by a range of different entities from major government bodies such as presidential commissions, agency commissions, congressional Members, the General Accounting Office (GAO), to interested parties or influential food policy experts.

The recommendations are grouped chronologically into four categories: