Abstract

These are not the words of a harsh critic of the Food and Drug Administration. They were penned by the agency’s deputy commissioner for food. That this is an insider’s view makes it all the more troubling. Recent studies suggest that roughly half the products on supermarket shelves proclaim their purported health benefits.2 But a trip to the supermarket suggests that this is a conservative estimate. The FDA is not powerless to regulate these claims, but it operates in a regulatory framework that is the product of piecemeal reform and compromise, not intelligent design. And its limited staff resources and budget further constrain what it can do. The food industry is required to seek prior ..