A bi-partisan parade of lawmakers pledged to overhaul the country's food safety system today at a House hearing held in response to food-borne illness outbreaks such as the ongoing one involving peanut products. “We have before us one of the finest messes in history,” said Representative John D. Dingell, Democrat of Michigan, according to a report on the New York Times Web site.

Dingell blamed both Congress and the White House for the failures of the Food and Drug Administration. “As a result of the failure of giving Food and Drug the resources it needs,” he said, “people are dying.”

While some lawmakers debated whether the FDA should be split into two agencies, others such as
Representative Henry A. Waxman, Democrat of California, argued for a more immediate response. 
“Our first goal should be to address the problems that plague this program where it currently sits,” he said.

In its more recent update, the Centers for Disease Control reported that illnesses are still being reported among people who ate products containing peanuts. The case count is 683 in 46 states with the latest confirmed illness beginning on February 13. The database of recalled products continues to swell and can be searched on the FDA's Web site.

UPDATE: The nominee for the FDA's top spot is reported to be Dr. Margaret Hamburg, a former New York City health commissioner, according to published reports. Baltimore's health commissioner Joshua Sharfstein is said to be in line to become a deputy FDA commissioner.