The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) looks to have ridden a wave of failures in recent years, as drug recalls, weakened enforcement, uncertain leadership and tainted food escaped their inspection and widely affected the Americans. As president Barack Obama already said, reforming the agency is necessary, and he already ordered a complete review of FDA’s operations.

What’s the latest problem FDA seems to have caused? Well, the peanut butter product recall, one of the biggest food recalls ever, aimed at salmonella-tainted peanut products that have killed eight people and sickened another 550. Even if the FDA launched a criminal inquiry at the operators of the Georgia plant, there is plenty of blame to share in Washington, as the FDA knew about unfit food made at a processing facility last year, handing off inspection duties to state officials.

The FDA oversees 80 percent of the food supply, as the Department of Agriculture oversees the rest, chiefly poultry and meat. The agency gets part of its budget from drug testing. Recent data shows that in 2007, the US for the first time imported more fresh fruit than it sent overseas, and the FDA opened its first overseas office, in China, in order to inspect US-bound imports.

It’s clear for everyone that the job is not done right for the moment and that a change is seriously needed. There will need to be more inspectors and tighter regulation, as the penalties such as larger fines and longer jail terms should warn food producers and discourage them to do anything illegal. It’s very important to see who will be FDA’s new leader, as he will decide where the agency is heading towards. It remains to be seen if the desired changes will take place.