Congress passes food safety reform
Passing with a vote of 215-144, the bill faced a large number of obstacles along the way, including a filibuster attempt, a technical glitch, and strong debate over certain amendments, despite enjoying widespread bipartisan support from industry, consumer, and health organizations. The Senate passed the bill by unanimous consent late on Sunday, following a last-minute deal between Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).
Following House passage of the bill, president and CEO of the Grocery Manufacturers Association Pamela Bailey said: “Over the past two days the Senate and the House have each come together in bipartisan fashion to do the right thing: strengthen and modernize America’s food safety system and help restore the public’s faith in the safety and security of the food supply.
“…This landmark legislation provides FDA with the resources and authorities the agency needs to help strengthen our nation’s food safety system by making prevention the focus of our food safety strategies.”
The legislation will give the FDA the authority to order product recalls, will require that food manufacturers have detailed food safety plans and give the FDA better access to company records. It also contains a provision to protect employees who flag up food safety concerns.
However, some critics of the bill have said that it will give the government more power without making the food supply safer.
“Washington’s answer to every problem is to give the federal government more power and control,” said Congressman Tom Price (R-GA). “What we really need is smarter regulation and better information in the marketplace.”
And others have criticized the inclusion of an amendment that exempts smaller businesses from the new law, including the United Fresh Produce Association which withdrew its support for the bill after inclusion of the Tester-Hagan amendment.
The association’s senior vice president of public policy Robert Guenthersaid on Tuesday evening: “Today is a day of mixed feelings for our members who have worked long and hard to pass food safety reforms, as this remains a job that is very much unfinished. Moving forward, as we always do, United Fresh will continue to work with our allies in the new Congress, voicing our strong support for uniform, risk-based food safety standards to which all can be held accountable, regardless of size.”
The bill was prompted by a rash of large-scale foodborne illness outbreaks and product recalls, including lettuce, spinach and peppers, among others. But it was the peanut product recall of early 2009 that gave lawmakers the final impetus needed to get new food safety legislation before Congress. Salmonella-tainted peanut products from the Peanut Corporation of America caused more than 700 reported illnesses nationwide (the total number affected has been estimated at 22,500) and nine deaths – and led to one of the largest product recalls in US history, affecting thousands of products from hundreds of companies.
The Food Safety Enhancement Act that was drafted in the wake of that outbreak passed the House in July 2009, and its companion bill, the Food Safety Modernization Act, passed unanimously through committee in November last year. However, it was only in November 2010 that it was finally considered in the Senate after a packed legislative agenda including jobs and health care reform stalled its progress.
About one in six Americans is becomes sick as a result of foodborne illness each year, according to figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and 3,000 die. Recalls, legal expenses and lost sales resulting from foodborne pathogens cost food manufacturers billions of dollars each year.
The legislation is expected to cost $1.4bn over the next four years, including the cost of hiring about 2,000 new FDA inspectors.
