Fixing Food

An FDA Insider Unravels the Myths and the Solutions

By: Richard A. Williams PhD

Narrated by: Pete Bradbury

Length: 8 hrs and 13 mins

Publisher's summary

An FDA economist discovers that solutions for food safety and nutrition lie in the hands of entrepreneurs - not government regulation and education.

With about half of the US population expected to be obese by 2030 and one out of six Americans getting sick every year, why is the Food and Drug Administration spending years trying to figure out if almond milk should be called “milk”? As a 27-year veteran of the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Nutrition, Dr. Richard A. Williams poses this question.

Dr. Williams also questions the accuracy of more than thirty years of food labeling, coupled with consumer education on diet/disease relationships and failed attempts to get consumers to track intakes. It is time for the American people to look elsewhere for solutions, rather than relying on the FDA.

Fixing Food takes you inside the FDA and explores the inner workings that drove failed strategies. Following his tenure at the FDA, Dr. Williams spent more than a decade investigating new sciences - including genetic and microbial sciences - that are leading to innovative foods and products. With one of the greatest public health crises in American history ongoing, this research aims to solve our issues with food - once and for all.

In this book, you will learn:

• How FDA controls Congress, the Courts, and the Executive Branch and others who might be a threat to their resources and growth of power
• How the FDA misuses risk assessment and cost-benefit analysis
• How the FDA’s most recent innovation to keep food safe is fifty years old
• Why food labeling has been a disaster
• How entrepreneurs are remaking foods to be safer and healthier
• How new medical devices will ultimately make nutrition as easy as using a cell phone
• How trying to educate consumers through food labeling has been a public health disaster

Ultimately, the role of the FDA in the new world of food safety and nutrition must change if the agency is to stay relevant.

©2021 Richard A. Williams, PhD (P)2021 Recorded Books

Complaining Memoir without Many Solutions

"Fixing Food" is less of a defense of how the food processing industry in America can be improved to increase efficiency and food safety or health, and mostly a memoir of Richard Williams' career as an economist at the FDA. While Williams makes some important points and highlights gaps in public communication and regulation, his argument is buried under too many anecdotes. There is chapter after chapter of office drama story without much reflection. Williams professes a lengthy bureaucratic career, but we are only privy to when he lost squabbles or fought colleagues tooth and nail. We do not get explanations of his successes or what the FDA is doing right in certain situations.

Don't get me wrong; I learned a lot about the FDA by reading this, especially what it can and has not been set up to accomplish. But if this had not been an audiobook to get me through the bits that don't have much to say, I doubt I would have finished it on my own. I was mostly disappointed this hadn't been restructured and refocused by editors to be more substantial. This ended up being 90% complaining about problems and only 10% offering solutions, when it should've been 60:40 at least in order to make effective arguments.

This would be fine as an introduction for those previously completely unfamiliar with FDA operations, but I will not be personally recommending it to anyone.

Great Read!

As a food industry employee, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It provides a nice history of some of the major FDA regulations. The insider perspective is fascinating. The book is educational, humorous, and most importantly, relevant. I plan to re-listen and highly recommend it to anyone!

Mixed but worth a selective listen/read

Author is likely a mixed economy Keynesian. He understands the "need" for regulations but thinks a reasonable level of regulations exists to prevent the harmful effects of them. Definitely makes some good bureaucratic inefficiency arguments that I've also personally seen in my government working experience. But then goes on defending lots of bad practices. He unfortunately never saw how the Upton Sinclair novel "The Jungle" was mostly lies to advocate for socialist planning. Overall, it is written well with halfway good & interesting scientific studies, and sarcastic humor at times, so it's worth a read to pick out the good vs bad arguments.