David P. Carter is assistant professor of public policy and administration at the Public Affairs Program of the Department of Political Science, University of Utah.

In 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed legislation creating the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), which was charged with making laws to protect the agricultural trades and ensuring food quality and safety. The job of overseeing food quality and safety had a strong, standardized, scientific component housed within the USDA. This was the situation until the advent of organic farming in the 1940s and the growing popularity of halal and kosher foods in the US. The USDA was not equipped to objectively define and consequently assess the standards for these specialty foods: there was a fair amount of disagreement about what constituted "organic" food, and it would be impossible for the USDA to oversee every halal and kosher practice. Carter (political science, Univ. of Utah) delivers a fascinating, detailed account of how the USDA made use of outside entities to develop guidelines and standards for certifying these foods. The author provides critical analyses of the benefits and risks of using these entities to determine parameters of food quality and safety. The book includes many case studies and references to prime sources, and it makes mention of the impact of genetic engineering on food production practices.Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers.

• Chapter 1. Regulation by ProxyChapter 2. A Framework for Examining Decentralized RegulationChapter 3. Institutional Emergence and Evolution: The History of Organic Food Governance in the U.S.Chapter 4. Systems-Based Regulations and Rulemaking Counsel: USDA National Organic Standards and the NOSBChapter 5. The Regulator: The National Organic ProgramChapter 6. The Third-Party Administrators: Accredited Certification AgentsChapter 7. The Inspection Intermediaries: Organic InspectorsChapter 8. A State-Level Enforcement Intermediary: The California State Organic ProgramChapter 9. Coordinating and Information Intermediaries: Professional Associations and Materials Review OrganizationsChapter 10. The Regulatory Targets: Certified Organic ProducersChapter 11. Appraising the Analysis: Institutional Design, Intermediaries, and USDA Organic CertificationChapter 12. Final Reflections: The Theoretical Implications of Regulation by Proxy