Trump Takes Aim at 'Food Police,' Excessive Government Regulation

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has said he wants to cut down on government waste, and it now appears that the Food and Drug Administration's food safety regulations will be one of his first targets.

In a fact sheet distributed to reporters Thursday and reported by The Hill, the Trump campaign took the food safety agency to task for regulating the way food for public consumption is prepared and packaged. The campaign referred to the FDA as the "food police" and criticized the agency's rules on the nutritional content of pet food.

 The FDA Food Police ... even dictates the nutritional content of dog food. The rules govern the soil farmers use, farm and food production hygiene, food packaging, food temperatures and even what animals may roam which fields and when. [The FDA] also greatly increased inspections of food 'facilities,' and levies new taxes to pay for this inspection overkill.

According to the USDA, the agency's Food Safety and Inspection Service "employs 8,000 in-plant and other frontline personnel who protect public health in 6,200 federally inspected slaughter and processing" facilities.

The campaign's fact sheet was distributed during Trump's speech at the Economic Club of New York Thursday. In his speech, Trump criticized the federal government for excessive regulation.

"In 2015 alone, federal agencies issued over 3,300 final rules and regulations, up from 2,400 the prior year," Trump said. "Overregulation costs our economy $2 trillion a year and reduces household wealth by almost $15,000."

Trump said his plan to cut regulations will lead to economic growth and cutting government regulatory overreach will foster new industry and job growth. In his speech, he took aim not only at the FDA, but also at the Environmental Protection Agency for its coal regulations.

This includes eliminating some of our most intrusive regulations, like the Waters of The U.S. Rule. It also means scrapping the EPA’s so-called Clean Power Plan which the government itself estimates will cost $7.2 billion a year. This Obama-Clinton directive will shut down most, if not all, coal-powered electricity plans in America. Remember what Hillary Clinton said? She wants to shut down the miners, just like she wants to shut down the steel mills.

According to The Hill, the Trump campaign would ask agencies to rank all regulations by "contribution to growth, health and safety."

Trump added in the speech: "I’ve proposed a moratorium on new federal regulations that are not compelled by Congress or public safety. I will eliminate all needless and job-killing regulations now on the books."

(Image via Flickr user Gage Skidmore)