A vast majority of Americans wants government to play a more proactive role in protecting the nation’s food supply, according to a new poll commissioned by Pew Charitable Trusts. From the Pew press release:

A total of 83 percent of likely voters interviewed believe the federal government should be responsible for ensuring that food is safe to eat, and an even higher percentage of those surveyed – 89 percent – support the federal government enacting new measures to better protect people from getting sick from eating contaminated food.

In addition, 91 percent of those polled favor annual or semi-annual government inspections of facilities that process food that is at a high risk of contamination, including 75 percent who strongly favor this. Government data shows that such facilities are inspected only once a decade on average, according to FDA statistics and a review by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. 

At this point, more aggressive food safety regulation and legislative reforms under consideration in Congress would seem to be no-brainers. As the Pew poll indicates, reform efforts have wide public support. Meanwhile, national contamination scares have led to huge business losses for certain industries (like the tomato industry), softening the ground for industry support.

The Obama administration has gotten off to a good start with food safety regulation. The administration unveiled a broad food safety agenda in July that promised several new standards covering eggs, poultry, spinach, and other common foods.

While the administration and Congress struggle with health care and energy, food safety is ripe for meaningful reform. If the Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009, which passed the House in July, becomes law, everyone involved could claim victory. Americans may not want a bureaucrat standing between them and their doctor, but they do want a bureaucrat between them and a nasty case of food poisoning.