World Perspectives

Food Safety Trouble; Pariah at the WTO; F2F Recalculation

Food Safety Trouble An extensive research effort by Politico on food regulation at the U.S. Food & Drug Administration reveals a troubled agency. Among other problems, it finds a flawed organizational structure, an overly cautious culture, and a lack of funding. A report by the Congressional Research Service notes that, “Although FSIS is responsible for roughly 10%-20% of the U.S. food supply, it has received about 60% of the two agencies’ combined food safety budget. Although FDA has been responsible for 80%- 90% of the U.S. food supply, a few years ago it received about 40% of the combined budget for federal food safety activities.” It is also noted that “FDA commissioners almost always come from the medical s...

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From WPI Consulting

Illuminating the value of technical research

On behalf of a commodity producer organization, WPI evaluated the outputs from a project that featured a $5 million investment into technical research over multiple years. WPI’s team captured the results of this extensive effort and synthesized them for presentation to the organization’s governing board; among the findings uncovered and presented for the first time was the development of genomic traits proven, via rigorous testing, to provide crop yield advantages of 50 percent or more to U.S. farmers in times of drought. Capturing measurable results from long-term efforts can be challenging. Educating clients on the dynamics of success measurement when quantifiable results are not readily available requires deep client-consultant collaboration and an ability to consider both near- and long-term client aspirations with market/policy dynamics – attributes that WPI brings to every consulting engagement.

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