Neal Fortin interviewed for feature article on the FDA

Neal D. Fortin - January 31, 2025

Neal Fortin discusses the FDA in Detroit's Downtown News Magazine

Cover of Downtown News Magazine's issue with FDA written on white background.

Detroit's Downtown News Magazine recently published a feature article by Stacy Gittleman titled "FDA: Controlling what goes in food products" about the FDA's push to eliminate some chemicals in food. The article is free to read online.

In the article, Neal Fortin was asked to comment on the FDA's role in food safety, and to compare how food safety and risk are handled by the United States, the European Union, and the World Health Organization.

He highlights the distinction between risk assessment (the science of evaluating food safety) and risk management (political decisions on food safety measures). He notes that in the European Union, agencies like European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) focus only on risk assessment, while the FDA in the U.S. handles both risk assessment and management, often leading to differing outcomes due to political influence.

Fortin advocates for citizen watchdogs in food safety, akin to environmental movements, due to limited FDA resources. The FDA’s budget for food safety is minimal, and its food division is small. However, Fortin is hopeful that the 2024 reshuffling of the FDA’s Human Food Program will lead to better oversight, especially for chemicals and additives that haven’t been reviewed in decades.

Read more about Fortin's call for whistleblowers in the food supply chain in his August 2024 paper published in Cambridge University Press, Democratizing Food Safety: Why We Need to Look Beyond Government Regulation and Provide a Citizen Right of Action. Fortin said a citizen’s response system – just like it exists in the environmental movement – needs to be created as a mechanism to be a watchdog for food contamination.

Disclaimer.

Learn more about global food regulations with MSU's online graduate courses, particularly:

MSU's Institute for Food Laws and Regulations offers online graduate courses to food industry professionals. Most IFLR students work full time for food companies or regulators, and take one online course at a time to further their professional development. Students may take as few or as many courses as they desire, and may earn a Certificate in International or United States food law after completing twelve qualifying credits (usually four courses).