As soon as President Obama’s budget proposal came out, journalists and citizens played the tea-leaf game, examining its contents for clues to major policy changes. It didn’t take much analysis to discover that this year’s budget document offers a major shift in federal food policy. For the first time, the White House is calling for the creation of a single food agency — a move that would fix a disconnect in the food safety system that has existed for 100 years. The fix has been proposed before, but never by a President. It might not happen — but it’s likely to spark a broader conversation this time around.

In a gesture toward transparency, the White House placed the entire narrative and text of