Consumer Groups Demand Senate Passage of Modern Food Safety Bill
Three consumer interest groups have joined forces to urge Congress to pass meaningful food safety legislation to wipe out antiquated laws and poor enforcement.
In a report released Wednesday, the consumer groups said in Washington that the current Salmonella egg outbreak that has sickened nearly 1,500 people across the county is the latest of many recalls of contaminated food since the U.S. House passed a food safety bill in July 2009.
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“Recalls and outbreaks are the most public consequence of our ‘horse and buggy’ food safety system,” Caroline Smith DeWaal, food safety director at the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) said in a press release.
The three groups calling on the Senate to pass similar legislation when it reconvenes are CSPI, Consumer Federation of America and U.S. Public Interest Research Group.
They issued a report that said 85 separate food recalls linked to 1,850 illnesses have occurred since the House passed H.R. 2749, the Food Safety Enhancement Act, 13 months ago. According to the report, 36 of those recalls were due to Salmonella contamination of lettuce, alfalfa sprouts, green onions, and ground pepper.
The report noted that hydrolyzed vegetable protein contaminated with Salmonella spurred the recall of a wide variety of soup and dip mixes, dressings, and seasonings. Thirty-two recalls, mostly from contaminated cheeses, were due to dangerous Listeriabacteria. In addition, the report said E. coli bacteria on shredded romaine lettuce sickened at least 26 people in 23 states and the District of Columbia.
The report also details the impact of the recalls on each state. For example, 79 recalls affected products distributed in California, whereas Idaho, Mississippi, and Montana were affected by 44 of the recalls. Click here to see the full food safety report, called Recipe for Disaster.
The consumer groups said that both the House and Senate bills give the FDA a mandate to conduct inspections of food processing facilities, and to conduct microbial testing. Under current law, many facilities go for five or 10 years without an inspection. The Senate bill would require high-risk producers to be inspected more frequently. Both bills give the agency the authority to order companies to recall potentially tainted foods.
Before this bill is passed, we must be sure that it doesn't stop the production of food by our neighbors and their gardens; by our Farmers Market Sellers; by small farmers; by unreasonable laws that make food production impossibly expensive; by gestapo like invasion of private property. We must be certain that the giant agrabusinesses are not behind this law, being excused themselves of obeying it.
We must reestablish government inspections that are timely and regular by government that protects it's citizens.