I can see a world where there's a private alternative to the FDA going around and certifying that food is safe for consumption. I just know that the world before the FDA didn't have one, and the FDA works well enough that I'm not willing to find out. I think this has a lot of parallels to software - if it ain't broke don't fix it.
That is a really good point, what would be the business model of such an organization? Who funds them?
If it is the government, then that is just the FDA with extra steps
I could imagine food companies funding it to keep their competitors in check, don't know how likely that is in practice
Maybe there could be a way to make the consumer pay for the service. Provide a website where customers pay a fee, enter the name of the product/restaurant then get their safety levels. You could even include fancy graphs and charts to sweeten the deal. How to do that profitably I dont know.
What could I have done here to know that the sandwich is contaminated with salmonella before eating it?