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# Report:  FDA Needs More Power
- URL: https://www.foodconsumer.org/report_fda_needs_more_power_0609101046/
- Published: 2010-06-09T11:40:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-15T12:51:15.000Z
- Description: An Institute of Medicine report says the FDA needs more power over the US food supply, where CDC counts 76 million illnesses a year. Recommendations include delegating food inspections to the states, and the report warns that more money without a prevention-focused vision would be futile.
- Author: Rachel Stockton
- Tags: Nutrition, #vivvo-import

Those who regularly visit new sites devoted to providing the latest information on research, food safety, and health might be surprised at what a report from the Institute of Medicine says about the FDA: simply put, they believe the agency needs more power (Reuters).

However, to the credit of the Food, and Drug Administration, this particular report isn’t criticizing the agency as a whole, but specifically, its ability to adequately manage the food supply system in the United States, where 76 million people become ill every year from food borne illnesses (CDC). 

As an agency, however, the FDA has a lot on its plate – everything from health care reform to regulatory issues involving the pharmaceutical industry; they are making news, and lots of it, every single day of the year.

And, at first glance, some of the report’s recommendations that the FDA gain a tighter hold on food management may actually free up the agency as a whole, such as delegating food inspections to the fifty states.

Indeed, it is difficult for a large, governmental agency to come to terms with whether or not delegation or more direct involvement is called for when dealing with a network of such mammoth proportions. The food system is a $450 billion enterprise consisting of 156,000 agencies regulated by the FDA.

The report, while acknowledging that more money and people would help reel the agency in, also emphasizes that throwing money at the problem without developing a specific vision that focuses on prevention would be futile (Reuters).