Senate Democrat Moves to Expand Federal Food Safety Regulatory Powers

[Shallah Kali]

http://public.cq.com/docs/cqt/news110-000002497955.html

Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin plans to offer an amendment on the Senate floor next week that may include language permitting the FDA to order mandatory recalls of tainted food products and fine companies that don’t promptly report spoiled food, according to an aide.

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In the House, Connecticut Democrat Rosa DeLauro, who chairs the Appropriations subcommittee that determines spending for the FDA, said she is poised to cut off salaries for the agency’s top managers in the fiscal 2008 spending bill unless officials report immediately how they will improve food inspections, recalls and standards.

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Durbin and DeLauro for years have pushed to consolidate the government’s food safety functions, which are now shared by numerous agencies, including FDA, the Agriculture Department and the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Durbin has introduced legislation (S 654) that would combine the food safety operations into a single agency. The amendment he plans to offer next week would be a pared-down version of his bill, focusing specifically on FDA problems, an aide said.

This is excellent news! Right now the FDA only has the right to order recalls for baby formula. Everything else is up to trusting corporations to do the right thing instead of covering their own behinds. I recently read that in the UK companies that fail to promptly recall tainted food and notify the government can get unlimited fines plus 2 years in jail. We need that over here now!