The long-term goal of preventing illnesses is less costly as compared to the proactive processes of dealing with the actual diseases. The State Health Department has the obligation of ensuring that there is safety in food consumption. The US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that the country experiences 48 million foodborne illnesses every year. A reduction in the level of vigilance on healthy food production is likely to result in higher rates of infections that relate to food ( Uyttendaele et al., 2016) . Through adequate budgetary allocations, state and local health agencies can effectively conduct food safety inspections to prevent illnesses that relate to food contamination.
In this case, John Smith faces the dilemma of having to reduce the staff base or limit the scope of services. Each of the choices accommodates the budgetary reduction but has consequences. One of the options is to reduce the number of personnel. Unfortunately, the available staff is already overworked and understaffed. The further reduction would affect the efficiency of the functions since the available staff will not effectively perform the role of food inspection. As a result, the department will not be able to perform its environmental health services effectively ( Uyttendaele et al., 2016) . The option of limiting the scope of services compromises the responsibility of protecting public health. It implies that the department will not perform some of its functions; which reduces its ability to oversee health safety in food production.
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John can neither reduce the number of staff members not limit the scope of services offered. He has to prove that environmental health programs such as food safety are critical in promoting healthy living ( Uyttendaele et al., 2016) . He has to prove the costly consequences of having to deal with food-related illnesses in comparison to developing the preventive approach of controlling the illnesses. The budgetary reduction is likely to have negative impacts on the health of state residents.
Environmental health professionals have the responsibility to carry out food assessment programs to ensure that the public consumes safe foods. They oversee food production to ensure that producers are in line with the food safety requirements. The environmental professionals also ensure that dealers in food items comply with the health safety requirements as provided by the law. Eliminating or reducing the number of the professionals puts the public at risk of consuming unsafe food items.
Reference
Uyttendaele, M., Franz, E., & Schlüter, O. (2016). Food safety, a global challenge. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 13(1), 67. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph13010067
