WASHINGTON—The FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (S.510) passed the Senate by a 73 to 25 vote with praise from the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN). The $1.4-billion bill is the first major overhaul of food safety law in 70 years and gives FDA enhanced responsibility to ensure the nation’s food safety. The bill now must be reconciled with the House of Representatives’ food safety bill, which passed in 2009, before it moves on to President Barack Obama for his signature.
The bill gives FDA greater authority to initiate food recalls, rather than waiting for companies to voluntarily recall food products. Food processors also would be required to develop strategies to prevent contaminations, and would be required to allow FDA access to all records.
The bill calls for FDA to inspect at least 600 foreign food facilities within a year of enactment, and double its number of foreign inspections in each subsequent year for five years. The measure would require inspections every three years for U.S. manufacturing and processing plants FDA views to be at a high risk for contamination, and every five years for all other domestic facilities.
The legislation also would require most food producers to develop hazard prevention plans and would give the FDA access to those records when requested. Some local food producers with annual sales under $500,000 would be exempt from that rule under the Tester amendment.
Steve Mister, president & CEO, CRN, said the organization supports this “critical" bill because of the added enforcement tools it would provide to FDA and the extra protections it would provide for consumers. “The dietary supplement industry, which is regulated as a category of food under the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA), is committed to supporting efforts that will help ensure consumers have access to safe and high-quality dietary supplement products. It is imperative that FDA has the tools it needs to help protect our nation’s food supply, including dietary supplements."
Mister congratulated Senators Tom Harkin, Mike Enzi, Dick Durbin, Judd Gregg and others who sponsored the legislation. “Their leadership was instrumental in bringing about passage of S. 510 and we thank them for their hard work and success. It is our hope now that the House of Representatives will take up this bill and come to a quick resolution and send it without delay to the President for his signature."
