Food safety bill passes House the day after it was defeated
In what came as a surprise move, the House passed a sweeping food safety reform bill a day after defeating a previous version. House Democrats kept revising the bill until they got it right. The previous version would have placed onerous burdens on small farmers and small food producers.
The version that passed the House today exempted these groups so long as they are selling their good directly to consumers, retailers and restaurants. When selling to wholesalers, however, they are covered by the same rules and restrictions as larger producers. That is, they are required to pay an annual $500 registration fee and to maintain a track-back system that identifies lots of food and their origins.
If passed by the Senate, the bill would require all facilities to have a food safety plan in place, would give the Food and Drug Administration the power to order food recalls, and would expand FDA access to company records.
Supporters of the bill say it will enable the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to prevent food contamination through increased inspection of large food-preparation facilities. More than 76 million Americans fall sick every year from food-borne illnesses, while 5,000 of those die.
Under the bill, inspections would take place every six to 12 months at high-risk facilities and every three years at lower-risk plants.
Currently, plants may go years without an inspection.
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July 31st, 2009 at 3:22 pm