Chuck Jolley is a free lance writer, based in Kansas City, who covers a wide range of ag industry topics for Cattlenetwork.com and Agnetwork.com.

On September 29 Richard Raymond used his Meatingplace blog to talk about an important but unnoticed anniversary. It had been one year since he retired from his post as the USDA’s undersecretary for Food Safety, a position that has been curiously unfilled since the day he walked away.

In the week following his blog, the New York Times savaged the ground beef business with a front page bombshell of a story powered by some truths, a few dozen half truths and a laundry list of misconceptions. Right behind that punch to the gut came a cold slap to the face of most of the rest of the food processing industry; the Center for Science in the Public Interest’s list of the 10 most dangerous foods.

The list, published by major broadcast news services, dozens of national and regional print publications and an uncountable list of internet-based outlets, included leafy greens, dairy products and seafood. Ground beef got nary a mention. Every effected trade association screamed in agony, pointing out the often large holes in the NY Times and CSPI studies. If the reports are to be believed, ground beef, most of our favorite vegetables, some seafood and all dairy products are highly suspect. Take all those things off the table and our national weight problem is solved overnight as we enjoy a starvation diet of all that seems left: purified water and plain oatmeal.

But it brings a serious issue to America’s dinner table. Who and what do we trust? Has the American Food supply become so tainted that we can’t put anything in the oven without worry? Has the amalgam of local, state and federal agencies charged with insuring a safe supply of food become so toothless that there is no ‘bite’ left in their oversight? Why is Raymond’s old post still standing empty even after the Obama called improvements in food safety one of the primary goals of his administration and backed up his claim by creating an all star laden Food Safety Working Group?

Talking about the group, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack said, "Shortly after coming into office, the Administration created a high-level Food Safety Working Group to coordinate food safety policies, focus greater resources on prevention, and improve response to outbreaks.”

FSWG is just a few months old but it has already launched an initiative to cut down E. coli contamination, issued draft guidelines for industry to further reduce the risk of O157 contamination, appointed a chief medical officer within USDA’s Food Safety Inspection Service to reaffirm its role as a public health agency, started testing additional components of ground beef, including bench trim, issued new instructions to USDA employees asking that they verify that plants follow sanitary practices in processing beef carcasses and designed the Public Health Information System (PHIS) in response to lessons learned in past outbreaks.”

For most federal groups, that’s a decade’s worth of work but it was done in just a few short months. It indicates a seriousness of concern unappreciated and virtually unnoticed by the public or the press.

But still, there’s the little problem of a key post, the undersecretary of food safety, unfilled by two administrations. It certainly isn’t for want of qualified candidates.

Our colleges and universities can offer up dozens of experts with stunning credentials. Industry can match them man for man, woman for woman.

We’re at a watershed moment when it comes to food safety issues. The public, perhaps over-stimulated by broadcast and print exposes of questionable scientific validity, is starting to demand changes in the system that are prohibitively expensive or technically impossible. As the nation moves generationally farther from the farm and understands less and less about basic food care and preparation – the microwave is the kitchen tool of choice for an astonishing number of households – there is less room for error in food processing.

I wanted to look into the food safety issue and Washington’s role in it from both sides of the table so I asked Richard Raymond and Bill Marler, two of the most formidable men in the business, to answer the same set of questions – point/counterpoint. Raymond has worked within the government and with many others in the food processing business. Marler has successfully sued many of those processors who failed to meet their obligations and stands ready to do it again-and-again until the industry “puts him out of business.”

Raymond answered from his experiences gained from long years of service to the industry. Marler answered from the experiences gained from too many years of taking miscreants to the financial wood shed.

Although they disagreed on a few points, I was surprised at how many of their answers were similar. Here is Five Minutes with Bill Marler and Five Minutes with Richard Raymond, ten minutes of fascinating answers to important questions.Continue Reading Five Minutes With Bill Marler, Richard Raymond & The New Food Safety