Secretary Tommy Thompson is right to think that the food supply isn't as safe as it could be from a terrorist attack. It hasn't helped that most of the anti-bioterrorism regulations that the Administration has issued have been significantly watered down under pressure from the food industry.

The FDA's new record-keeping requirement is a modest improvement, but nothing to breath a sigh of relief over. What is needed is brand new legislation that would give FDA authority to visit foreign factories and farms that want to ship food to the U.S., and authority to mandate recall and traceability all along the food supply. Ultimately, the food laws should be comprehensively modernized and food-safety functions combined into a unified food-safety agency, rather than the hodgepodge we have today.