The Impacts of American Federalism on US Food Safety with Doug Farquhar | Episode 87

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In this episode of Don’t Eat Poop!, our hosts Matt and Francine are joined by Doug Farquhar, the Director of Government Affairs of the National Environmental Health Association, at the 2024 FDA Retail Food Seminar & IEHA Annual Education Conference.

Doug is on a mission to encourage US states to adopt more recent versions of the FDA Food Code (only 4 states have adopted the most recent version so far) but this gets really tricky because of federalism.

Tune in as he sheds some light on just how independent every single state, county, and municipality is from the federal government and what that ultimately means for US food safety.

In this episode:

💩 [01:32] Doug’s career in environmental health

💩 [03:30] Food safety in national brands versus mom-and-pops

💩 [07:53] The impact of not doing food safety

💩 [10:41] State and local issues with guidance from the federal government

💩 [12:45] Issues when it comes to meat

💩 [14:49] Cottage food laws: it all depends on where you are

💩 [17:23] The frustrating predicament American food trucks face

💩 [20:10] Selling food on the Internet and food fraud

💩 [21:19] Peanut butter, Nutella, Vegemite, and world trade

💩 [25:54] Codex Alimentarius and selling overseas

💩 [27:10] The Food Code and why its evolution is necessary

💩 [30:44] When the media doesn’t know what they’re talking about

💩 [34:56] Very outdated CDC food safety data

💩 [37:20] Food Code adoption throughout the US

💩 [40:07] Regulation adoption within different states

💩 [41:45] Cannabis legalization in Alabama

Disclaimer: Episode title and content do not constitute legal or health advice.

Noteworthy quotes from this episode

“It's very interesting because it's very complicated and the way we do it in this country, as I said, is a federalist system. The locals, the states, the federal government, they all have to work together, but really the authority, you can do whatever you want to inside your state, inside your jurisdiction, as long as you don't conflict with what the FDA is doing.” – Doug Farquhar

We hope you enjoy this episode!

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