Request!

I'd like to ask a favor of anyone who sees this post in the next few days.

Would you visit this site: FoodSafety.gov ...


... and tell me if you think it easily answers any questions you, as a consumer, may have about food safety -- things like consumer alerts, current recalls, current food-related outbreaks, consumer guidance for same, etc. No big deal, just a quick scan.

As I understand it, the site, Foodsafety.gov, is being promoted by the government as a "primary mechanism for providing food safety information to the public."

• It is meant to serve as one-stop shopping for food safety news, that is, it's meant to incorporate information from the 12 or so agencies that have some responsibility for the safety of our food.
  
• It is designed to "provide and respond to the public's need for up-to-date, scientifically based, food safety information."

Do you think it succeeded?
(The site is currently managed by the FDA.)

Why I'm Asking For Your Input

The FDA is holding a conference call for bloggers next Wednesday, November 14th, on their new Food Protection Plan. I've been invited to listen in and ask questions. But I thought ... why are my questions important? Why aren't everyone's questions important?

So, if you leave your food safety questions and comments (that would apply to the Food Protection Plan) in the comment section, I'll read through them in the next few days and try to incorporate them into my RSVP. I can't imagine that any question or comment is too simple. After all, this is a teleconference for bloggers ... not scientists, journalists, academics, or industry insiders.

I had planned to at least comment about the FoodSafety.gov site mentioned above. I think it's difficult to navigate and requires that a consumer know which agency is responsible for a particular food (produce, meat, poultry, dairy food, pet food, livestock food, seafood, packaged food, imported food) before they can access news about it. Your comments don't necessarily have to address this point.