Recalls Prompt Renewed Efforts to Reform Food Safety Laws

A number of bills have already been introduced in the new Congress to overhaul the food safety system in the United States. Driven by concerns that current laws are not providing adequate protection for consumers, House members and Senators have proposed the following measures:

• H.R. 185 – Introduced January 6, 2009, by Representative José Serrano (D-N.Y.), this bill would require that consumers be notified if food products are made with crops, livestock or poultry raised on land to which sewage sludge was applied. Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce and the Committee on Agriculture.
• H.R. 759 – Introduced January 18, 2009, by Representative John Dingell (D-Mich.), this bill would require fees for facility registration, verification that food plants are operating under an HACCP plan, HHS guidance or regulations to establish science-based standards for conducting hazard analysis and implementing preventive controls, HHS biannual review of data to identify the most significant foodborne contaminants, and HHS establishment of minimum standards for safe production and harvest of produce. Referred to the
  House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
• H.R. 814, 815 – Re-introduced February 3, 2009, by Diana DeGette (D-Colo.), these bills would require that FDA and the USDA establish a product tracing system from farm to fork and give the federal government the authority to issue a mandatory recall of contaminated food, respectively. Both bills were referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce and the Committee on Agriculture.
• H.R. 841 – Introduced February 3, 2009, by Representative Betty Sutton (D-Ohio), this bill would authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services to order the mandatory recall of any product that the Food and Drug Administration regulates. Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
• H.R. 975 – Introduced February 4, 2009, by Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), this bill would create a new agency, the Food Safety Administration, “to protect the public health by preventing foodborne illness, ensuring the safety of food, improving research on contaminants leading to foodborne illness, and improving security of food from intentional contamination, and for other purposes.” Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce and the Committee on Agriculture.
• S. 92 – Introduced January 6, 2009, by Senator David Vitter (R-La.), this bill would require HHS to refuse admission of any imported seafood failing to meet Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act requirements or any other federal food safety law. Referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. See U.S. Food Law Report, February 2, 2009.

Meanwhile, Food and Drug Administration officials have defended their handling of the latest national Salmonella outbreak, noting that the
agency’s investigation began in November 2008, before there was a strong epidemiological link to a specific food. Peanut butter was apparently added to the short list of suspected food sources, following discussions with Minnesota health officials in early January 2009, and by January 9, federal inspectors focused on the Peanut Corp. of America’s Blakely, Georgia, peanut processing plant. Yet, lawmakers do not believe that the food safety system is functioning as it should. According to Agriculture Committee Chair Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), “To
say that food safety in this country is a patchwork system is giving it too much credit. It is a hit or miss gamble, and that is truly frightening. It’s time to find the gaps in the system and remedy them.” See Associated Press, February 9, 2009.

The New York Times recently published an article re-examining proposals to irradiate foods. While the federal government says that such technology can safety destroy bacteria in processed foods, food manufacturers apparently complain about its expense, and consumer groups question its long-term safety. While the technology can improve the safety of products such as fresh produce and ground beef, it does not work well on products with high fat or oil content, like peanut butter, because these products can turn rancid under radiation. See The New York Times, February 2, 2009.