ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the concept of filth in US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulation, through a case of imported cheese refusal on the grounds of filth and adulteration, and examines the FDA's import refusal system. What can we learn about the FDA and government more generally from how filth is defined and enforced? Also, what do the data and processes of the import refusal system tell us about the work of this aspect of the agency, and outcomes for healthy food? From a semiotic perspective, I found that the term filth itself was unclear in practice, and the detail provided through additional research did not increase confidence in the basis for enforcement. While the import refusal system is filled with data, activity tends to be reactionary, and does not stand strictly as a proactive system for protecting public health from harmful products.
