Washington, DC – U.S. Senators Bob Casey (D-PA), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) today introduced a bipartisan amendment to the 2009 Budget that would create a reserve fund to allow for legislation that enhances the protection and safety of the nation’s food supply.
“In light of the countless number of recalls from our nation’s food supply, our food safety is an issue we can’t wait any longer to address,” said Casey. “This amendment will help create a reserve fund to allow Congress to take action to help make our food safer.”
"During the last year, we’ve seen major recalls of peanut butter spiked with salmonella, spinach laced with E coli and chilies with botulism chasers,” Durbin said. “We have to do better. Our food safety system needs more recourses and the creation of this fund will make those resources available."
“We have an obligation to ensure food imports meet U.S. health and safety standards,” Brown said. “Food safety is not an option; it’s an imperative. Our amendment would secure the funds needed to provide strong oversight of our nation’s food supply.”
"When consumers go to the grocery store, eat out at a restaurant or send their kids off to school with lunch money, they deserve to have every confidence that our food is not only delicious, but safe to eat," Grassley said. "An unsafe product has ripple effects all the way up the food chain from the farmer to the consumer to our trading partners."
These funds would allow for Congressional legislation that, among other purposes, would:
*Expand both the FDA and USDA food inspection field forces
*Develop risk-based approaches to the inspection of the food supply
*Develop the necessary infrastructure – including information technology systems – to ensure a coordinated approach to enhancing the protection and safety of the food supply
*Improve scientific capacity by establishing science-based training programs and investing in improved surveillance and testing technologies
*Enhance FDA’s recall authority
*Expand foodborne illness awareness and education programs
Senators Casey and Grassley introduced the first bipartisan food safety bill. The Ending Agricultural Threats: Safeguarding America’s Food for Everyone otherwise known as the EAT SAFE Act of 2007. The bill, among other things, authorizes the USDA to hire and train additional inspection personnel, requires private laboratories conducting tests on FDA-regulated products on behalf of importers to apply for and be certified by FDA and establishes civil penalties for importers who circumvent the USDA import reinspection system.
Senator Durbin has been actively engaged on food safety issues for over a decade. This Congress he’s called for the implementation of a food safety program to standardize American food safety initiatives (The Imported Food Security Act of 2007 - S.1776.).
As a Congressman, Senator Brown co-founded the House Food Safety Caucus and helped negotiate food safety provisions of 2003 Bioterrorism Bill. In the Senate, he continues his work on food safety, introducing the Food and Product Responsibility Act which would give USDA, FDA, and CPSC the authority to issue recalls and would help ensure that importers are able to cover the costs of recalls.
###
