Obviously, President-Elect Obama has far more weighty decisions to make than picking a puppy for his daughters. The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) is warning the incoming president that he may face a food safety dilemma.

In a recent announcement, the GAO outlined 13 urgent issues facing the country — including two wars and the economic crisis — and has included food safety among those urgent issues. This public statement is paired with a new GAO Web site to help guide the president and new members of Congress during this transitional period.

The GAO argues that the federal food safety labyrinth — otherwise known as the numerous and disparate federal agencies that in some part oversee food safety — needs to be reevaluated. “Currently a network of 15 agencies administer over 30 food safety laws,” says Lisa R. Shames, director of Natural Resources and Environment at the GAO. This fragmented system, Shames added, has caused ineffective coordination, inconsistent oversight and inefficient use of resources.

Shames argues that agencies responsible for ensuring the safety of food in America are not funded according to the volume of food they inspect. As a result, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), which regulates about 20 percent of the food supply (meats, fruits and veggies), gets about 80 percent of the funding, while the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) oversees about 80 percent of the food supply yet receives only an approximate 20 percent of federal funding. According to the GAO, this is a good example of where President-Elect Obama, once he takes office, might be able to make some improvements.

Other organizations that impact the safety of our nation’s food — including the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) — argue, however, that volume of food is not the correct measurement to use to allocate resources. Instead, the resources should be allocated on a basis of the amount of risk associated with the different types of foods and the different types of food processing systems.

Additionally, many of these organizations have also called for a reorganization of federal food safety and inspection services. The AVMA, for example, has been calling on the federal government since 1993 to create a “coordinated, integrated, unified food safety regulatory program that is managed by a single federal agency” headed by the USDA.

Considering the overwhelming attention that the ongoing economic crisis, two foreign wars, and homeland security is going to garner in the coming months, KeepOurFoodSafe.org would like to thank the GAO for reminding our nation’s new leaders about the importance of food safety.

Recent news headlines included an unsettling story about a man who passed a nine-foot tape worm and claimed it came from seafood he’d consumed at a local restaurant. Newscasters joked that the tape worm looked, well, exactly like nine feet of tape, or a nine-foot tape measure, and it had a face like a drill bit. And now the man is suing the restaurant!

I write this not to scare you off seafood for lunch, because seafood is still delicious and generally pretty healthy. No, friends, this is just an important reminder that food safety isn’t a guarantee, no matter where you are. In general, we all assume that food is safe in this country, and that’s because it is. But nothing is absolute.

Take parasites, like our friend the nine-foot tapeworm (let’s call him Duke). If evolution means anything anymore, parasites are winning the race. They outnumber every other creature on the planet, which means they’re pretty good at what they do. Cockroaches probably fear parasites. Another interesting fact, at nine-feet tall our Duke is the Michael Jordan of the parasite world. Imagine Duke facing a whole basketball team of tiny heartworms; I actually worry about the safety of those little worms facing off against our Duke! (Next time you get caught calling someone insipid a “parasite” behind their backs, try using this one: “No, no, I meant parasite-good, not parasite-bad! Parasites are some of the most resilient and ingenious animals!”)

The good news is that man has evolved as well. We’ve developed a couple of ingenious inventions to help win the war against parasites and bacteria — pots, pans and refrigerators! Hooray for people! We may actually win this thing!

Controlling temperature is the most effective, and easy, way to stop pathogens and parasites, but I have to admit, I do feel a bit funny about advising people to cook their food, or keep food in a refrigerator. I hope everyone understands that these are good, healthy things. But then again, there is a lot of information about food safety to go over, and mistakes can be deadly. Can you name the correct cooking temperatures for meats off the top of your head? You can?! That’s great, I totally can’t! (You’re a very intelligent blog reader, do you know that?)

While it’s not exactly breaking news, perhaps it’s a good idea, in honor of Duke, to go over some common cooking and chilling guidelines to help ensure food safety. In fact, that’s the whole goal of the BacDown! campaign -- to simply remind people of the basics of refrigeration and cooking and point out some basic rules about appropriate temperatures for cooking and chilling.

You can get a lot of information on this at www.fightbac.org, which recommends refrigerator temperatures be set lower than 40 degrees but higher that 32, which can damage delicate foods. It also advises that all new or leftover foods be placed in the fridge within two hours, and always use the refrigerator to defrost or marinade foods and meats. Food stays safe in the freezer when it’s frozen in small containers, for quicker cooling, or chilled in an un-crowded refrigerator. To check on how long you can keep a food in the fridge, click here.

Of course, the Fightbac folks also offer a cooking chart, available here. This chart gives safe cooking temperatures for all kinds of meats—145 degrees for a perfect medium rare steak—egg dishes, fish, seafood and even casseroles. Poor Duke, he may never find another host!

Using the stove and refrigerator properly is important, lifesaving work when you consider that every year 5,000 people die of food-borne illnesses. Now go forth and cook and refrigerate food like a pro. (Wow, just think of how many children won’t be getting salmonella tonight as a result of this blog! I’m so good!)

Yesterday, we attended the quarterly International Food Information Council (IFIC) Food Safety and Defense (FS&D) Communications Forum along with representatives from several food animal producer groups, a number of leading scientists and several well-known nutrition experts.

With a mission to “communicate science-based information on food safety and nutrition to health and nutrition professionals, educators, journalists, government officials and others providing information to consumers,” IFIC is really doing a great job of monitoring and communicating trends and confronting the challenges to food safety that we all face. Hats off to them!

A lot of good information was presented at yesterday’s meeting, including findings from the IFIC Foundation 2008 Food & Health Survey. Among the findings that shouldn’t surprise anyone who’s been tracking some of the recent food safety issues is the fact that 45% of Americans feel confident in the US food supply, while 26% say they are not confident and 29% say they are neither confident nor unconfident. Over one-quarter of Americans don’t trust the food supply? If I were in Congress, I’d certainly sit up and take notice!

It’s interesting to note that the same survey shows that Americans’ confidence goes up when it comes to safely preparing foods for themselves and their families -- with 82% of the respondents saying they trust themselves to safely prepare foods. That may be true, but how do they know that food is safe in the first place?

Our guess is that they’re confident that a knowledgeable, competent person – usually a veterinarian – has inspected that food. And that, rules and regulations were followed before that dairy product, meat protein and even fruits and vegetables went to market. Let’s hope so!

A webcast on the survey is available here.

We’ll have more information from IFIC in the future, including more links to some of the great resources available on their web site. In the meantime, we’re thankful to be able to collaborate with groups like the IFIC – all of us working together to make sure that cool glass of milk, that juicy hamburger and that apple pie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream is a safe as it is yummy.