Complain about a product or service

House Committee Moves Forward On Food Safety Legislation

FDA would gain new enforcement powers; Some see problems

By Martin H. Bosworth and Mark Huffman
ConsumerAffairs.com

May 29, 2009

Food Safety • At Least 2 Deaths Reported in Massive E.Coli Ground Beef Recall • Food Toxin Linked To Liver Cancer • Senate Urged To Pass Food Safety Modernization Act • Consumers Have Little Trust That Food They Buy is Safe and Healthy • Consumers Union Opposes USDA Proposal On Salad Safety • New Food Registry Enables Quick Reporting of Dangerous Products • Nothing Simple about Food Dating, Expiration Dates or 'Use-By' Dates • Feds Announce New Food Safety Strategies • House Passes Food Safety Bill • Feds Seize Kentucky Livestock Kept In "Filthy Conditions" • FDA Tries To Improve Egg Safety • Tainted Dry Milk Recall Continues To Grow • Salmonella Scare Prompts Dairy Recall • Most Consumers Lack Confidence In Food Safety, Survey Says • House Committee Unanimously Passes Food Safety Bill • Food Safety Bill Aired In House • House Committee Moves Forward On Food Safety Legislation • Illinois Meat Packer Recalls 95,898 Pounds Of Beef • Alfalfa Sprouts Linked to Salmonella • Food Safety Results Level Off • Sprouts Recalled Due To Possible Listeria • FDA Warns About Listeria in Salmon • Food Industry Accused of Big Tobacco's Bad Habits • FDA Closes Tortilla Plant • Surface Water May Be Source Of Salmonella • Key Senator Blasts FDA Over Food Safety > • FDA Rolls Out Food Safety Plan • Brits Get Treats, Yanks Get Tricks From Food Companies • Hartz Recalls Rawhide Chips After Possible Salmonella Contamination • Vermont Firm Recalls Possibly-Tainted Ground Beef • Beef Sent to Puerto Rico May Be Contaminated with E. coli • Technology Offers Revolution in Food Safety Testing • Chinese Gorillas Fall Ill as Melamine Scandal Widens • Alfalfa Sprouts Recalled in Salmonella Outbreak • CDC Gives "All Clear" On Salmonella Outbreak • One Death Reported in Oklahoma E. coli Outbreak • Feds Approve Irradiation of Spinach, Lettuce • FDA Issues Warning About Frozen Seafood • Whole Foods Extends Beef Recall • Whole Foods Recalls Fresh Ground Beef • Six New E. coli Cases Reported In Massachusetts --- • More ...

The House Energy and Commerce Committee has issued a draft of the Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009, a legislative response to high profile food recalls over the last few years. The legislation, if it becomes law, would grant the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) more enforcement power to investigate food producers, and track and recall unsafe food products.

The draft is largely based on the food provisions of H.R. 759, the Food and Drug Administration Globalization Act of 2009, introduced in January. Some of the proposed new powers for the FDA include:

• Creation of a registry of all food facilities and importers serving Americans, which would be updated on an annual basis. Affected parties would pay fees to be included in the registry, and would be tagged with unique identification numbers for easier tracking.

• Registered facilities would pay an annual fee of $1,000 to fund FDA oversight, including inspections, recalls, and certifications for export of food to the U.S.

• The FDA's powers to "quarantine" potentially unsafe food or products from entering geographic areas would be enhanced.

• The FDA would issue regulations requiring every company in a food produce chain — including manufacturers, processors, and transporters — to maintain records for the origin and distribution of the food, and ensure the records are usable and transferable in multiple formats.

• Enhanced safety requirements for infant formula.

• New authority to subpoena records and protect whistleblowers in case of alleged violations of the law.

"The current state of our food safety system is dangerous not just for the American public, but also for the food industry itself," said Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), Chair of the Energy and Commerce Committee. "This bill recognizes that the hallmark of strong food safety legislation must be a shared responsibility for food safety oversight between FDA and industry. This legislation will go a long way toward restoring Americans' confidence in our food supply."

Concerns raised

Jill Richardson, a food safety activist and author of "Recipe for America: Why Our Food System Is Broken and What We Can Do to Fix It," told ConsumerAffairs.Com that she generally supports the bill, but sees some potential problems.

"It does not have any requirement for companies to do microbial testing for pathogens and then report positive results to the FDA. That's a big omission," she said.

Richardson added that small businesses should be exempt from the $1,000 user fees, as it might cause them financial hardship while larger farms and agribusinesses would not be affected. "Why should a tiny jam operation pay the same amount to the FDA as an enormous corporation like General Mills?," she wrote.

"Rather than having the FDA's financial well-being be tied to the industry it regulates, why not just fund them with taxpayer dollars? Food safety is a part of the common good. We all eat, we all need safe food," she added.

Richardson told ConsumerAffairs.Com that the bill would likely pass, due to the bad publicity food suppliers suffered during the massive recall of peanut products tainted with salmonella earlier this year.

Currently, responsibility for food safety is shared primarily by two federal agencies — FDA and the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

The Committee has scheduled a legislative hearing for June 3, 2009. The draft legislation and a summary are both available on the Energy & Commerce Committee Web site.

Report Your Experience
If you've had a bad experience -- or a good one -- with a consumer product or service, we'd like to hear about it. All complaints are reviewed by class action attorneys and are considered for publication on our site. Knowledge is power! Help spread the word. File your consumer report now.

Share		Follow us on Twitter.