Food Safety Under Trump’s Term

Ever since Donald Trump was elected the 45^th president of the U.S. on November 9, he has been busy recruiting for his administration—leaving many to wonder if he and his team will follow through on all the Trump campaign promises. One of those promises of particular importance to the food industry was his push for less regulations.

While food safety didn’t play a huge role in his presidential campaign, Trump did create some unease in the industry when a fact sheet was posted online in September, and later deleted, in which the Trump campaign highlighted a number of “specific regulations to be eliminated.” This included what they called the “FDA Food Police” whose rules govern “the soil farmers use, farm and food production hygiene, food packaging, food temperatures, and even what animals may roam which fields and when.”

Proposing to do away with these rules certainly raised concerns from industry stakeholders responsible for protecting the public from contaminated food.

However, a president is unable to simply wave his/her hand and totally eliminate a rule. Yet, as reported by CivilEats.com, “executive orders—actions by the president that did not go through a legislative or agency rulemaking process, such as the Executive Order Combatting Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria— can be easily undone. Also vulnerable to actual undoing are unfinished agency rules and regulations.” This means that the business not completed by USDA, FDA, and EPA at the end of the Obama administration will now be passed to Trump and his team to handle.

Although he made his dislike for regulations well known on the campaign trail, it’s not clear if regulations concerning food policy will be affected during Trump’s term. Regardless, the industry has an obligation to continue its push for food safety initiatives with this new administration—despite political views.

—Marian Zboraj
From The Editor