Food Safety and Risk Governance in Globalized Markets (Symposium: The Future of Food Regulation‪)‬

INTRODUCTION Modern food safety policy came into being at the turn of the twentieth century in response to scandals in the meat-packing and food-processing industries. (1) Behind these scandals lay dramatic changes in the economic structure of food production and distribution. Rapid technological change was transforming life into something now recognizable as a modern urban-industrial society. Food production was shifting away from home or local production and processing toward more industrial processing and regional or even national marketing. In the United States, long-distance rail systems and refrigerated railcars made possible the rise of a national meat-packing industry, with primary production across the Great Plains and slaughter and processing in rail centers such as Kansas City and Chicago. Institutions that had emerged to manage safety risks associated with local production and distribution were incapable of safeguarding health in this more nationally integrated economy. Substantial institutional innovation was needed to manage the resulting changes in health risks. In 1906, the U.S. Congress passed both the Meat Inspection Act of 1906 (2) and the Pure Food and Drug Act. (3) In amended form, this legislation remains the core of U.S. food safety law. (4)