this is a fine idea in theory, but in practice, the responsibility for managing such an index would (in the US) be split unpredictably between the FDA and/or USDA. the agencies have wildly varying budgets, a Byzantine web of overlap in their responsibilities, and the GOP's trying to defund them both anyway.

indeed, the Supreme Court's agreed to hear a case next year which they may use to dismantle the entire legal basis for all the US govmt's regulatory agencies. arguments in that case begin on Jan 17th