Food Safety Law’s Long Journey Concludes, Funding Issues Could Stall Reforms

President Barack Obama (D) signed the FDA Food Safety Modernization
Act (H.R. 2751) into law on January 4, 2011, ending a complicated legislative
journey that began with House approval in 2009. In essence, the law gives
the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) the authority to order food product
recalls, calls for more frequent facility inspections, enhances FDA’s ability to
oversee food imports, requires food facilities to have written safety plans,
establishes science-based standards for the safe production and harvesting of
produce, and exempts small farms that sell directly to local consumers from a
number of provisions.

As Commissioner of Food and Drugs Margaret Hamburg has noted, while
some of the changes take effect immediately, others depend on budgeting.
According to her blog post, “The funding we get each year, which affects our
staffing and our vital and far-ranging operations, will also affect how this
legislation is implemented . . . Without more funding, we will be challenged
to implement the law fully without compromising other key functions.”
House Republicans have made decreasing government spending a priority,
so resources to carry out the legislation’s new mandates may be limited. The
incoming chair of the House Appropriations Agriculture Subcommittee has
reportedly indicated that he wants to decrease the costs associated with the
law, claiming that existing regulations are doing a “darn good job.” See FDA
Food Safety Blog, National Journal Daily, January 4, 2011.