Once again, consumers have paid the price for the gaping holes in the nation's food safety net. In recent months, food-borne illness and deaths have been tied to tainted spinach, peppers, melamine-laced imports — and now peanut products.

The recent salmonella outbreak linked to peanuts has claimed eight lives and sickened hundreds of people in 43 states. The recall has touched public schools, nursing homes, even government-issued FEMA meals.

Neither federal nor state food safety regulators made the grade here. Again, a lack of staff and funding were cited among reasons for dropping the ball. Even more unconscionable: The Food and Drug Administration asserts that the company continued to ship tainted products after salmonella was found at its processing plant. A criminal inquiry is under way.

That's little consolation for those who have lost loved ones. Clearly the right course is on the prevention track.

The first place to start is with the FDA. Congress should consider calls to separate food and drug oversight so that food safety is the sole focus of a new agency. The FDA is housed within the Department of Agriculture, which receives roughly 80 percent of the funding, yet oversees just 20 percent the food supply (meat, poultry and eggs). The FDA is tasked with monitoring 80 percent of the food supply, with just 20 percent of the funding. It's a prime example of government inefficiency. At a time when food imports are increasing, the FDA inspects less than 1 percent of these imports.

Developing a sensible labeling and tracking system that tracks our food supply from the field to the table is long overdue. Our government's own reports bear that out.

We've already paid the hefty price of inaction. It's time to get the job done.