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  • From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] House Approves Food-Safety Bill
  • Date: Mon, 03 Aug 2009 12:34:38 -0600


"Small farms are exempt from registration fees, ranchers and farmers now
regulated by the Agriculture Department are excluded from the requirements of
the bill and the FDA will have to consider the special concerns of small
growers and organic farmers, among other provisions."

House Approves Food-Safety Bill
Law Would Greatly Expand FDA's Power
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/30/AR2009073003271.html
By Lyndsey Layton
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, July 31, 2009

The House approved the first major changes to food-safety laws in 70 years
Thursday, giving sweeping new authority to the Food and Drug Administration
to regulate the way food is grown, harvested and processed.

The action follows a wave of food-borne illnesses over the past three years,
involving products as varied as spinach and cookie dough, which has shaken
consumer confidence and made the issue a priority for congressional leaders
and the White House. Food illnesses sicken one in four Americans and kill
5,000 each year, according to government statistics. Tainted food has cost
the food industry billions of dollars in recalls, lost sales and legal
expenses.

"Americans are dying because the Food and Drug Administration does not have
authority to protect them, and American producers and agriculture are being
hurt," said Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.), the bill's author, who has been
pushing food-safety change for more than 20 years. "This will fundamentally
change the way in which we ensure the safety of our food supply."


The measure passed 283 to 142. The Senate is expected to take up its version
after the August recess. President Obama, who has voiced concerns about the
safety of peanut butter consumed by his 8-year-old daughter, endorsed the
House bill Wednesday.

The legislation affects every aspect of the U.S. food system, from farmers to
manufacturers to importers. It places significant responsibilities on farmers
and food processors to prevent contamination -- a departure from the
country's reactive tradition, which has relied on government inspectors to
catch tainted food after the fact.

The 159-page bill was backed by a raft of consumer groups and trade
associations but faced opposition from some farm interests and their House
Republican allies, who said it gives too much authority to the FDA and will
lead to higher costs and burdensome paperwork without necessarily making food
safer.

"The federal government will tell our farmers and ranchers how to do
something they've been doing since the dawn of mankind," said Rep. Frank D.
Lucas (R-Okla.). "It goes too far in the direction of trying to produce food
from a bureaucrat's chair in Washington, D.C."

The legislation requires food producers and importers to pay an annual $500
registration fee, which would help fund stepped-up FDA inspections,
enforcement and related activities such as food-safety research. About
360,000 facilities in the United States and abroad would be subject to the
fees. The Congressional Budget Office reported that the fees would not cover
the cost of the new system, leaving the FDA to incur a net cost of $2.2
billion over five years.

If enacted, the bill would be the first major overhaul of food laws since
1938, when Congress gave the FDA the power to oversee the safety of most
foods, as well as drugs and cosmetics. At that time, the government was
concerned mainly about food makers adulterating products by substituting
ingredients or using additives to mask rancid meat and vegetables.

But as the food industry has changed, new threats have emerged. Deadly
pathogens such as E. coli O157:H7 can contaminate foods without the knowledge
of farmers, manufacturers or consumers. An increasing amount of food
Americans consume -- about 15 percent -- is imported, with little known about
overseas growing or processing methods. And the U.S. food supply chain has
grown increasingly complex, with some manufacturers unsure where raw
ingredients originate.

The legislation requires food manufacturers to identify the particular risks
they face, create controls to prevent that contamination, monitor those
controls to make sure they are working and update those measures regularly.
Such controls have been mandatory for the seafood and juice industries since
the 1990s after several high-profile contamination cases; they are widely
believed to have reduced outbreaks involving those products.

The House bill calls for the FDA to set safety standards for farmers and
manufacturers who process food. And it requires imported food to meet the
same standards.

The legislation requires the FDA to sharply step up inspections. The FDA now
inspects food facilities about once a decade. The bill would also mandate
inspections of high-risk facilities at least once a year and low-risk
facilities at least every three years.

The measure also gives the FDA significant authority to contain outbreaks of
food-borne illnesses. The agency would be able to recall food if it suspects
contamination, instead of relying on the food maker to act voluntarily. It
also allows the FDA to quarantine a geographic area, blocking the
distribution of suspect food to the rest of the country. And the FDA would
gain access to records at farms and food production facilities.

Under the legislation, the food agency will get new enforcement powers and be
able to impose beefed-up civil and criminal penalties. One provision allows
the FDA to declare food "adulterated" simply if the grower or manufacturer
has failed to follow safety standards, regardless of whether the food is
actually tainted.

The bill does not address the fractured nature of U.S. food regulation, which
is spread among 15 federal agencies, as well as thousands of state and local
health departments.

Agriculture interests were able to win key concessions. Small farms are
exempt from registration fees, ranchers and farmers now regulated by the
Agriculture Department are excluded from the requirements of the bill and the
FDA will have to consider the special concerns of small growers and organic
farmers, among other provisions.





  • [Livingontheland] House Approves Food-Safety Bill, Tradingpost, 08/03/2009

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