In July the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC), which has 181 member states, published more than 30 international food standards, codes of practice, and guidelines to improve the safety of food and protect the health of consumers worldwide. In the same month, President Obama's Food Safety Working Group (FSWG) recommended major overhauls in three areas-prevention, enforcement, and response.

Although both groups set guidelines for food (codex alimentarius is Latin for "food law"), they fill different roles. The CAC focuses on international concerns like world trade and helping to establish internal regulatory agencies in developing countries, not surprising priorities for a body formed in 1963 by the United Nations and the World Health Organization. Relying on scientific data and member states' trade concerns, this year the organization recommended reducing the potential carcinogens acrylamide and ochratoxin A in potato products and coffee, respectively, and adopted guidelines for toxin levels in pistachios, Brazil nuts, corn, and other foods. In an example of globalization's effect on food safety issues, the CAC also put forth guidelines for maximum melamine levels in food-their answer to a recent scare about melamine in food products from China.

Protecting the American public. One big problem with food safety in the United States is inefficiency. According to a FSWG report: "At least a dozen federal agencies, implementing at least 30 different laws, have roles in overseeing the safety of the nation's food supply. This approach was not rationally designed."

The solution? Streamlining. Thus the creation of the FSWG itself, as well as of supervisory positions occupied by Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack. Another fix? Modernizing the system. Social media-YouTube, Twitter, podcasts-are being used to educate the public. And education is part of prevention, which constitutes the first of the group's "core principles." Prevention is also where nurses come in, says Jerold R. Mande, the Department of Agriculture's deputy under secretary for food safety. "I hope they'll remind their patients and the public of safe steps in food handling, cooking, and storage." The second principle, enforcement, includes stepped-up inspections of beef, tomatoes, and leafy greens. And the third-improving response-depends partly on new technologies to help the government respond quickly to outbreaks.

Despite their differences, both the CAC and the FSWG aim to ensure that nursing remains intimately involved. "Obviously human health is a core focus of nurses," says Nancy Hughes, director of the American Nurses Association's Center for Occupational and Environmental Health. One in four Americans contracts a foodborne illness every year, according to the FSWG-an excellent reason for nurses to bone up on food safety. RNs who'd like to weigh in on the FSWG agenda should log on to http://www.foodsafetyworkinggroup.gov.

Bunny Wong