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Democratising Food Safety: Why We Need to Look Beyond Government Regulation and Provide a Citizen Right of Action
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 August 2024
Abstract
Imperfect information on food safety and risk has created a system with less safety than the public wants. Consumers cannot pay for the level of safety they desire. Tort under-compensates for foodborne illness due to difficulty proving causation. When market controls are ineffective at producing the level of safety desired by consumers, the classic approach is government regulation. However, government regulators face challenges that impede the translation of scientific knowledge into regulatory controls. This often results in an equilibrium of private interests and bureaucratic interests rather than the public interest. To restore republican deliberation on food safety we need greater citizen involvement in the decision-making. Access to the courts is an effective means for citizens to participate directly in the decisions affecting food safety; thus, a private cause of action to our national food safety laws is proposed.
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- © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press
References
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17 The Clean Air Act was enacted in 1970, 42 USC §§ 7401–7671.
18 33 USC §§ 1251–1387.
19 42 USC §§ 6901–6992.
20 42 USC §§ 9601–9675.
21 15 USC 33 2601–2692.
22 30 USC §§ 1201–1328.
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24 Ibid.
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29 21 USC § 337(b).
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32 Article III, § 2, of the US Constitution provides that the federal judicial power shall extend to “all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United States, and Treaties made, or which shall be made, under their Authority.”
33 Touche Ross & Co. v Redington (1979) 442 US 560.
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35 33 USC § 1365.
36 Ibid.
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39 Ibid.
40 Ibid.
41 Sant’Ambrogio, n 23.
42 Glen Staszewski, “Reason-Giving and Accountability” (2009) 93 Minn L Rev 1253, 1281
43 Ibid. 621 (citing David Freeman Engstrom, Agencies as Litigation Gatekeepers (2013) 123 Yale LJ 616 (“Given that private enforcement is designed at least in part to counter possible agency capture, bringing agencies back into the picture risks returning the fox to the henhouse.”).
44 Sant’Ambrogio, n 23, 424.
45 Michael E. Porter, The Competitive Advantage of Nations (2011).