Food Network Analysis #3
Policy
The policy context encompasses the laws, regulations, and goals set forth and enforced by local, state, and federal governing bodies that impact the food supply chain both directly and indirectly. A U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Economic Research Service (ERS) 2022 publication, “How Government Policies and Regulations Can Affect Dietary Choices,” provides a succinct categorization of policy impacts on the food supply chain into four categories:
1. Farm assistance. Policies impacting the supply side of food production through measures such as commodity price support, certain crop production incentives, surplus production purchases, export subsidies, and import restrictions.
2. Food safety regulations. Regulations relating to ensuring the quality and safety of foods from production to sale to consumers. These include inspections of food production and processing facilities, food additive approvals, pesticide restrictions, and feed animal drug approval. Such regulations are intended to prevent contamination and food-borne illness outbreaks which instill consumer confidence in the food supply, which impacts the demand side of the food supply chain.
3. Information regulations. This category includes regulations relating to what information the consumer is provided that can then be used to make food buying decisions. Topics include food nutrition labeling requirements, advertising restrictions, food identity (food is what label claims it is), and food grades (e.g., grading of certain cuts of beef). These are demand side effects.
4. Other sector related regulations. This category includes regulations that indirectly impact the food supply chain and include such areas as environmental regulations, workplace safety, industry merger restrictions, and international trade policies. These largely impact the supply side of the food supply chain.
The National Research Council publication, “A Framework for Assessing Effects of the Food System,” offers a similar set of regulation categories; “policies affecting farming activities, food processing and marketing activities, nutrition guidance, and food consumption behaviors.”
Governance
The food system, or rather food, is of vital importance to any society. An adequate and nutritious supply of food is necessary for the health, productivity, and well-being of citizens and consequently the country. Moreover, food can be a gesture of compassion, and tool of diplomacy in the international community. No surprisingly, local to federal government bodies are intimately involved in the entire system.
Laws
Policy derives largely from legislation. Indeed, the Whitehouse website (www.whitehouse.gov) notes that the Constitution charges the Executive branch with enforcing the laws enacted by the Legislative branch. A prompt to ChatGPT of, “What are the major legislative acts in the United States government since 1780 related to the food system?” yielded the following:
Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906
Federal Meat Inspection Act of 1906
Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act of 1938
Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938
National School Lunch Act of 1946
Food Stamp Act of 1964
Nutrition Labeling and Education Act of 1990
Food Quality Protection Act of 1996
Food Safety Modernization Act of 2011
Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018
This is certainly not an all-encompassing list, but it is a starting point to examine the legislative origins of policy. Probing deeper, there are events or movements of public opinion that initiate such legislation. In 1906, the book, “The Jungle” by Upton Sinclair exposed the unsanitary and dangerous conditions in the meat packing industry. It is not coincidence that the Pure Food and Drug Act and Federal Meat Inspection Act of 1906 were passed in that same year. The origins of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetics Act of 1938 can be traced to mass poisoning event in which an untested antibiotic containing diethylene glycol killed over 100 people across 15 states (www.ncbi.nim.gov). Investigating the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act of 1964 though www.ncbi.nim.gov found that this act reflected a societal shift from preparing food from scratch to buying processed food. Proper, informative, labeling was needed to inform consumers of the content of these processed foods. More recently, according to www.fda.gov, the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2011 was an effort to shift the focus of policy from a reactive position regarding food-borne illness to a proactive, or preventative position. This illustrates that policy reflects the fears, concerns, and opinions of the American populace at its best, but as will be the subject of a subsequent post it can also be the result of lobbying and manipulative efforts of special interest groups. Once enacted, it is up to the Executive branch to enforce.
Executive branch
According to www.whitehouse.gov, there are 15 cabinet departments, two non-cabinet departments, and 50 independent federal commissions. Data supplied by this website, supplemented by information from department websites where needed shows that 4.3 million people are employed in the 15 departments, with a budget of $2.1 trillion:
Cabinet Departments in descending order by Budget ($B)
| Cabinet | Budget ($B) | Staffing (‘000’s) |
1 | Department of Defense | 850 | 3,200 1 |
2 | Department of Health and Human Services | 700 | 65 |
3 | Department of Agriculture | 150 | 100 |
4 | Department of Veteran Affairs | 90 | 235 |
5 | Department of Transportation | 70 | 55 |
6 | Department of Education | 69 | 4 |
7 | Department of Homeland Security | 58 | 250 |
8 | Department of Housing and Urban Development | 40 | 9 |
9 | Department of State | 35 | 30 |
10 | Department of Justice | 25 | 64 |
11 | Department of Energy | 23 | 100 |
12 | Department of the Interior | 16 | 70 |
13 | Department of the Treasury | 13 | 100 |
14 | Department of Labor | 12 | 15 |
15 | Department of Commerce | 9 | 41 |
| Total of Departments | 2,159 | 4,338 |
| 1 includes enlisted, civilian staff, and national guard personnel |
|
|
| Environmental Protection Agency (non-Cabinet) | 9 | 15 |
Within each department are a number of agencies, offices, and bureaus. Using descriptions of these agencies, offices, and bureaus I attempted to identify those that may be part of the four policy impact types (e.g., farm assistance, food safety regulation):
Agency/Office/Bureau by Department by Policy Impact Type
| Department | Farm Assistance | Food Safety | Information Regulation | Other Sectors |
1 | Defense | (1) |
|
|
|
2 | Health and Human Services |
| CDC, FDA | FDA, NIH |
|
3 | Agriculture | AMS (1), FSA, FAS, RD, RUS, RHS, RBS | FSIS, APHIS | FNS |
|
4 | Veteran Affairs |
|
|
|
|
5 | Transportation |
|
|
| FMCSA, FRA |
6 | Education |
|
|
|
|
7 | Homeland Security |
|
|
| TSA |
8 | Housing and Urban Development |
|
|
|
|
9 | State |
|
|
| SPEC, ECW, ENW |
10 | Justice |
|
| FTC |
|
11 | Energy |
|
|
|
|
12 | Interior | BLM |
|
|
|
13 | Treasury | TTB | TTB | TTB |
|
14 | Labor |
|
|
| OSHA |
15 | Commerce | NOAA |
|
| BIS, USPTO |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Environmental Protection Agency |
| EPA |
| EPA |
(1) Significant buyer of agricultural products; $30B between 2018 and 2022 according to a GAO study
AMS = Agricultural Marketing Service – facilitate the efficient and fair-marketing of agricultural products
APHIS = Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service – ensuring health and care of animals and plants
BIS = Bureau of Industry and Security – ensures effective export controls and treaty compliance
BLM = Bureau of Land Management – sustain health and diversity of public lands including grazing permits
CDC = Center for Disease Control and Prevention – protection and control of diseases and respond to public health emergencies
ECW = Office of Conservation and Water – coordinates U.S. foreign policy to conserve and sustainability of world’s ecologically and economic important ecosystems
ENW = Office of Environmental Quality - implements U.S. foreign policy to protect air, food, soil, and biota from pollution by working with trade partners and multilateral institutions
EPA = Environmental Protection Agency - protection of human health and environment by enforcing standards and environmental legislation
FAS = Foreign Agricultural Service - promote access of domestic agricultural products to foreign markets
FDA = Food and Drug Administration - ensure food quality and safety; human and animal drug approval; biological product safety and effective; product labeling
FMCSA = Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration - improve safety of commercial motor vehicles
FNS = Food and Nutrition Service - administers food assistance programs & school meal programs
FRA = Federal Railroad Administration - facilitate the safe, reliable, and efficient movement of people and goods by rail
FSA = Farm Service Agency - administers credit and loan programs, manages conservation, commodity, disaster, and farm marketing programs
FSIS = Food Safety and Inspection Service - ensure safety of meat, poultry, and egg products
FTC = Federal Trade Commission - protecting Americans from unfair and deceptive business practices and unfair methods of competition
NIH = National Institute of Health - conducts biomedical and behavioral research
NOAA = National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - provides weather forecasting service, storm warnings, and climate monitoring
OSHA = Occupational Safety and Health Administration -ensure worker safety and healthful working conditions and protection from unlawful retaliation
RBS = Rural Business - Cooperative Service - provides capital, training, and education to facilitate development of businesses in rural areas
RD = Rural Development - administers federal financial and technical assistance to rural communities
RHS = Rural Housing Service - provides loans, loan guarantees, and grants for rural housing and community development
SPEC = Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Climate - leads U.S. diplomacy to address climate crisis
TSA = Transportation Security Administration - protection of U.S. transportation system
TTB = Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau - oversight of alcohol production industry for beverages and fuel
USPTO = United States Patent and Trademark Office -promotes progress in sciences and useful arts for artists and inventors by protecting exclusive rights for a limited time
Ten of the 15 cabinet departments have direct or indirect influence on the food chain. The 2nd and 3rd largest departments, Health and Human Services and Agriculture, have a significant number of agencies, bureaus, and services involved.
Food System Network Model
The following edge (interactions) are added to the Food System Network Model:
From | To | Interaction | Desciption |
Policies (NP) | Farm Production (FP) | Farm Assistance | Price support, promotion, import restrictions, export incentives |
Policies (NP) | Farm Production (FP) | Food Safety | Pesticide restrictions, animal drug approvals, facility inspections |
Policies (NP) | First Line Handlers (FH) | Food Safety | Facility inspections and standards |
Policies (NP) | Manufacturers (FM) | Food Safety | Facility inspections and standards |
Policies (NP) | Wholesale & Logistics (FW) | Food Safety | Food and safety inspections and standards |
Policies (NP) | Food & Beverage Services (FB) | Food Safety | Food and safety inspections and standards |
Policies (NP) | Institutional Buyers (FS) | Food Safety | Food and safety inspections and standards |
Policies (NP) | Retail Food Stores (FR) | Food Safety | Food and safety inspections and standards |
Policies (NP) | Food Banks (FN) | Food Safety | Food and safety inspections and standards |
Policies (NP) | Manufacturers (FM) | Information Regulation | Labeling requirements, advertising restrictions, food recall oversight |
Policies (NP) | Consumer (C ) | Information Regulation | Nutrition recommendations, food recall warnings |
Policies (NP) | Farm Production (FP) | Other Sector | Trade policies, pesticides restrictions, worker safety requirements |
Policies (NP) | First Line Handlers (FH) | Other Sector | Worker safety |
Policies (NP) | Farm Input Supply (FI) | Other Sector | Pesticide restrictions, patents on new technology |
Policies (NP) | Manufacturers (FM) | Other Sector | Workplace safety, pesticide content in food restrictions |
Policies (NP) | Wholesale & Logistics (FW) | Other Sector | Motor carrier safety, highway safety, maritime and rail transport regulations, pollution standards |
Policies (NP) | Consumer (C ) | Other Sector | Chemical restrictions, energy policy |
Policies (NP) | First Line Handlers (FH) | Information Regulation | Food quality grades, standards of identity |
Policies (NP) | Science & Technology (NT) | Other Sector | Funding research, patent and trademark protection |
Policies (NP) | Social Organizations (NS) | Information Regulation | Food recall, nutrition guidance, labeling |
Policies (NP) | Markets (NM) | Other Sector | Environment and climate policy |
Policies (NP) | Markets (NM) | Farm Assistance | Price support, production incentives, import restrictions |
Visualization
Next Step
Given the pervasive influence of the Policy context throughout the food chain, it would be informative to explore the organizations that influence government policy and consumer opinion.
References:
Ralston K. How Government Policies and Regulations Can Affect Dietary Choices.; 2022. https://www.ers.usda.gov/webdocs/publications/42215/5848_aib750q_1_.pdf
IOM (Institute of Medicine) and NRC (National Research Council). 2015. A framework for assessing effects of the food system. Washington, DC: The National Academy Press.
ChatGPT
Comments