Science in the Public Service
"In sum, we need a model where there is more scientific knowledge deployed across government, and more knowledge of government and public policy in our science and engineering communities." - Janet Napolitano, United States Secretary of Homeland Security
Creating innovation in science that benefits the community and helps to increase the publics’ safety and well-being demonstrates the importance of science in the public service. More involvement of science in the public service can help to make the delivery of public goods and services more efficient. Every tax payer would welcome a public service with high quality delivery processes and products. A lot of research and development takes place in the expected areas, for example, medicine and space travel, but science in the public service also applies to environmental conservation and food safety.
The United States government has three major agencies mandated to endure food safety. They are: the Food and Inspection Service of the United States Department of Agriculture, the United States Food and Drug Administration, and the Center for Disease Control and Preservation. These agencies are responsible for setting food safety standards, conducting inspections, ensuring that standards are met and maintaining a strong enforcement program to induce compliance. Contemporary policy development supported by the three government agencies has been focused on preventative, rather than reactive measures. The Food and Drug Safety Modernization Act (2011), for example, aims to ensure that food is safe by working to prevent its contamination.
Methods being used to implement the Food and Drug Safety Modernization Act include greater collaboration between the experts and the field workers who do inspections to monitor safe food production processes. The emphasis is on food safety, rather on documenting noncompliance.
