US Food Safety System Overhauled by Senate
by Marjorie Mapanao in Nutrition on Dec 17, 2010
The US food safety system has been recently overhauled by the Senate. There will be a $1.4 billion that would “give greater oversight to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) so that they can handle such crises as the “recent recalls of tainted eggs, spinach and peanut butter.”
The $1.4 billion food safety bill has provisions that will include: (1) the agency would be allowed to order a mandatory recall for tainted foods and set safety standards for raw produce, such as fresh fruits and vegetables, (2) the agency would also increase inspections of domestic and foreign food facilities.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there is already an estimated of 87 million Americans who are sickened due to contamination of food. There are a total number of 5,700 deaths from food-related diseases each year.
With the help of this provision, the FDA can only not negotiate with businesses to order voluntary recalls, but also FDA is allowed “to suspend firms selling contaminated food.” In addition, the agency could also “provide a one-page summary of recall that grocery stores would be required to post visibly throughout their stores.” This includes cash registers and shelves where the products were being sold.
Senator Kirtsen Gillibrand stated, “After a hundred years of inaction, this is an important step forward. But we must take the next step to safeguard meat and poultry.”
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