DeLauro on the Issues | Legislation

Legislation Introduced by Congresswoman DeLauro

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Summary

The Safe Food Act of 2005, H.R. 1507

Background

Currently, there is no comprehensive strategy to protect America’s families from foodborne illness. Several federal agencies, all with different and conflicting missions, work to ensure our food is safe. For example, there is no standardization for inspections – processed food facilities may see a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) inspector once every five to six years, while meat and poultry operations are inspected daily.

There are also opportunities for institutional conflicts of interest – one branch of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) inspects meat on behalf of consumers while another helps market it on behalf of producers. The Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) within the FDA receives fees from the animal drug industry to review and approve animal drugs that can enter the human food supply via meat and poultry.

It is a multi-layered, overlapping bureaucracy.

A 1998 National Academy of Sciences study, Ensuring Safe Food from Production to Consumption, concluded: “a model food safety system should have a unified mission and a single official who is responsible for food safety at the federal level and who has the authority and the resources to implement science-based policy in all federal activities related to food safety.” It makes sense for the safety of our food to consolidate food safety activities into a single food safety agency.

That is why I introduced the Safe Food Act, legislation that would create a Food Safety Administration. This is a common sense plan to address our nation’s fractured food safety system. It is good government. It would consolidate and streamline the various agencies that are responsible for protecting our food and put authority in the hands of one Food Safety Administrator. The Administrator would oversee one science-based food safety law that would harmonize the various authorities that currently govern the regulation of food safety. We are optimistic about this because a February 2005 General Accounting Office report showing that government officials in seven other high-income countries who have consolidated their food safety systems consistently state that the benefits will outweigh the costs.

Foodborne illness is a problem in the United States. An aging and immune- compromised population, an increasing volume of food imports, and faster food production and distribution all increase the risk of people getting sick. Infants and children are particularly vulnerable when they contract a foodborne illness.

People should not have to worry about the food they prepare for their families. Protecting Americans from foodborne illness should be one of our highest priorities.

Section by Section Summary – The Safe Food Act of 2005

TITLE I – Establishment of Food Safety Administration

The bill would establish the Food Safety Administration, a single agency responsible for ensuring the safety of the nation’s food supply. It would transfer all food safety activities to the new agency from the following existing agencies:

The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA);
The Shell Egg Grading and Certification Services component of the Agriculture and Marketing Service (AMS) at USDA;
The Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN) at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS);
The Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) at FDA;
The resources, people and facilities of the Office of Regulatory Affairs at FDA deployed to conduct food inspections;
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) at the USDA;
The components of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that regulate pesticide tolerances in food; and
The Seafood Inspection program at the National Marine Fisheries Service.

TITLE II – Administration of Food Safety Program

The new agency would be responsible for administering a national food safety program to protect public health. The Administrator would ensure that the food industry has effective programs in place to make food as safe as possible. The bill would make the food industry responsible for preventing and minimizing food safety hazards related to their products. The national food safety program would consist of:

A system of registration and regular inspection of slaughterhouses, food processing, storage and distribution facilities prior to delivery for retail sale;
Inspection and oversight of process control systems in food establishments based on science and public health considerations;
Science-based standards for substances that may contaminate food and for safety and sanitation in the processing and handling of food;
A sampling program to ensure that food industry procedures are effective and that food meets established safety standards;
Implementation of procedures and requirements to ensure the safety and security of imported foods;
Coordination with other federal agencies and state governments;
A national surveillance system in cooperation with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC);
Basic and applied research; and
Public education.

Registration of Food Establishments

The bill’s registration process for domestic and foreign food establishments, such as slaughterhouses, food processing, storage and distribution facilities, mirrors the process established by the 2002 bioterrorism law. The Administrator would be able to suspend the registration of any food establishment that violates a food safety law. Both the bioterrorism law and this bill exclude restaurants and farms from the registration process.

Preventative Process Controls to Reduce Adulteration of Food

The implementation of science-based process controls is critical to ensuring that food is kept free of contamination throughout the production process. The bill would require all food establishments to implement appropriate measures to control and reduce the levels of harmful contaminants in food and meet performance standards for harmful pathogens. The bill allows the existing Hazard Analysis of Critical Control Points (HACCP) program, a prevention-based food safety system, to remain, but does not limit the Administrator to relying solely on this program.

Firms that prepare processed or ready-to-eat products would be required to use reasonably available technology to eliminate contaminants. Food products prepared for final processing outside the food plant would be labeled with instructions for handling and preparing the food in a manner that will destroy contaminants that may be on or in the product.

Regulations under this section would establish: preventative processing controls; standards for sanitation; performance standards for contaminants; record keeping to monitor compliance; and sampling to ensure that process controls are effective.

Performance Standards for Contaminants in Food

The Administrator would expand current food safety efforts to control contaminants by establishing and enforcing performance standards for the reduction of contaminants in raw meat, poultry, meat and poultry products and other high-risk foods. After enactment, the Administrator would identify contaminants and foods that contribute significantly to the risk of foodborne illness and would establish performance standards to protect against those contaminants. Performance standards would ensure the lowest level or incidence of contamination that is reasonably achievable using the best available processing technology, interventions and practices.

Once standards are established, the Food Safety Administration would implement a sampling program to determine compliance of food firms. If a firm does not meet the standard, the Administrator may detain, seize, or condemn the food; order a recall; increase inspections; withdraw the mark of inspection or registration from the establishment; or take other appropriate action.

Inspection of Domestic Food Establishments

The bill would streamline food safety inspections to ensure that inspections are based on risk. The inspection system would ensure food establishments are operating in a sanitary manner, are in compliance with performance standards, and maintains required records.

The frequency of inspections and related requirements would be determined by the type of food handled and the type of processing to which the food is subjected.

· Category 1 Establishments: These firms routinely slaughter animals and would be subject to antemortem, postmortem and continuous inspection on each slaughter line.

· Category 2: These firms process raw meat, poultry, seafood, and other high-risk products and their processing does not include a step to destroy contaminants. These firms would be inspected at least daily.

· Category 3: These firms process meat, poultry, seafood and other high-risk products but processing does include a step to destroy contaminants. These firms would be inspected at least monthly.

· Category 4: These firms process all other categories of food products and would be inspected at least quarterly.

· Category 5: These firms store or transport food products for retail sale and would be inspected at least annually.

The Administrator may establish a different inspection schedule as necessary to use resources more effectively and may propose to increase or decrease inspection based on performance.

Food Production Facilities

The Administrator would have the authority to visit and inspect food production facilities in the United States and abroad. The Administrator would be able to review food safety records, set production standards to protect public health and promote food safety, establish traceability requirements for food producing animals, and conduct monitoring and surveillance relating to food safety. Food production facilities would include farms, ranches, orchards, vineyards, aquaculture facilities and animal feeding operations.

State and Federal Cooperation

The Safe Food Act would provide for better coordination among federal, state and local governments to help them fulfill their food safety mandates. It would provide for federal assistance to the states, including advisory, technical, educational and financial assistance. The Administrator would also be able to use state and local agencies to enforce the national food safety program and build on databases currently underway in the states.

Imports

The bill would improve the safety of imported foods by instructing the Administration to evaluate and certify a country’s food safety program to ensure that it meets the same level of safety as that of the United States. The Administrator also would have the authority to certify foreign firms whose food safety practices meet U.S. standards. In addition, the Administrator would inspect food that is imported into the country to ensure that it is safe for consumption.

USDA has much of this authority now but has not used it to the fullest extent possible. Currently, FDA only has the authority to evaluate foreign food safety systems or inspect foreign plans on a comparable scale with the evaluation and inspection it performs domestically. Since FDA is only able to inspect a little more than one percent of domestic firms annually, due to its limited resources, it has done little in the arena of inspections overseas.

Resource Plan

In order to ensure adequate funding for the Agency, the Administrator would annually prepare a resource plan describing the resources required to develop and fully implement the national food safety program. This plan would be submitted to Congressional appropriations committees and other relevant committees.

TITLE III – Research and Education

The legislation would require the Administrator and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to maintain an active surveillance system for foodborne illness. The data collected in this surveillance system and a sampling program would be used to assess the frequency and sources of food safety illnesses in the United States.

The Administrator would conduct cooperative research with other departments and organizations such as USDA, NIH, private universities and colleges, and work with states.

The bill would establish a national public education program on food safety for consumers and health professionals. The bill would also provide the Administrator with the authority to conduct basic and applied research to improve sanitation and processing practices; develop better techniques to monitor and inspect food; develop efficient, rapid and sensitive methods for detecting and identifying contaminants and determine the source of contamination; develop better food consumption data; and identify practices in animal production that could improve the safety of the food supply, as well as methods to identify and control pathogens and zoonotic diseases.

TITLE IV – Enforcement

Food Detention, Seizure and Condemnation

The bill would give the Administrator the authority to detain and seize any food, food ingredient or animal feed that is believed to be unsafe for consumption, is adulterated or misbranded, or fails to meet other requirements. These authorities are based on provisions in the 2002 bioterrorism law and the current authorities of USDA. If the Administrator determines that through re-labeling or other action a detained food can be brought into compliance, the food may be released. The bill would also permit temporary holds at ports of entry.

Traceback

The bill gives the Administrator the ability to require food producers to include a code on their products so they are easily traceable in the event of a foodborne illness outbreak.

Notification and Recall

The bill creates a voluntary recall procedure for food products that may be mislabeled or unsafe. If this is not effective, a mandatory recall may be instituted. The bill also gives the Administrator the ability to notify consumers as to where the food was located to minimize product consumption. Or, the administrator may provide a list of disease symptoms to look for if the product was consumed.

Civil and Criminal Penalties

Persons may be assessed a penalty of up to $10,000 for violating a food safety law. Individuals who commit a violation with the intent to defraud or mislead may be imprisoned for up to 3 years, fined up to $100,000, or both.

Whistleblower Protection

The bill provides whistleblower protection for individuals who disclose food safety violations, modeled after language in the Sarbanes-Oxley financial accountability bill.

Citizen Civil Actions

The bill allows an individual to initiate a civil action in the event a food safety law is violated.

Ethics Requirements

The bill contains requirements that would help maintain an ethical environment for regulated companies and the regulatory agency.

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