ABSTRACT

The food service industry in the United States is regulated by more than 3000 different governmental agencies. Federal, state, and local jurisdictions often overlap in their control of the safety of the American food supply. Standardized plan review processes, with training and credentialing of plan reviewers, will provide the basic elements necessary to promote improved uniformity of facility and equipment requirements, based upon the true operational needs of the food service establishment and the achievable levels of public health protection consistent with current technology. The majority of codes are in need of review, update, and revision to achieve the uniformity which would benefit the regulatory community, the affected industry, and the consumer. Uniform procedures for plan review would have similarly widespread benefits, but rest on concurrent code revision. In 1897, the forerunner of what is now the Association of Food and Drug Officials met to promote unity among chaotic state food and drug laws.