Forward

The authors of this report describe decision tools that could inform policy for reducing the burden of foodborne illness. These tools would rank risks, prioritize opportunities to reduce them, and clarify the constraints and contingencies that affect decisions about allocating resources for regulatory interventions to improve public health.

The report is grounded in the authors’ firsthand knowledge of relevant science and of policymaking for food safety. This knowledge enables them to contextualize the need for new tools and the work required to devise them. The context they present includes balanced descriptions of the problems and achievements of the U.S. food safety system and of the challenges to developing and using the decision tools they propose.

The Milbank Memorial Fund and Resources for the Future cooperated in planning, writing, reviewing, and publishing this report. The Fund, an endowed philanthropic foundation, collaborates with decision makers in the public and private sectors to develop and implement policy that maintains and improves health. In addition to Milbank Reports, the Fund also publishes the Milbank Quarterly and a book series in collaboration with the University of California Press.

Resources for the Future (RFF) has served for the past 50 years as the premier independent institute dedicated exclusively to analyzing natural resource, environmental, and energy topics. Developing the intellectual underpinnings of entirely new analytic approaches is at the center of RFF’s work in areas such as food safety and agriculture, international trade and the environment, and valuing environmental and health benefits.

The report is also the first publication of the newly created Food Safety Research Consortium (FSRC). This Consortium is a collaboration among six food safety research institutions: the Center for Food Safety at the University of Georgia; the Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine at the University of Maryland’s School of Medicine; the Food Marketing Policy Center at the University of Massachusetts; the Institute for Food Safety and Security at Iowa State University; Resources for the Future; and the Western Institute for Food Safety and Security at the University of California, Davis.

Many people contributed to this report. The Acknowledgments list persons who reviewed the report in draft. A section at the end describes each of the authors.

Daniel M. Fox
President
Milbank Memorial Fund

Paul R. Portney
President
Resources for the Future