Newagency

		Proposed Legislation Calls For Single Agency To Oversee U.S. Food Supply

by Ann Bagel on 10/11/04 for Meatingplace.com

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and U.S. Rep. Rosa L. DeLauro (D-Conn.) last week introduced legislation that would create a single agency responsible for ensuring the safety of the nation's food supply. The legislation calls for the development of a Food Safety Administration and the implementation of a food safety program to standardize food safety activities. Under current law, food safety monitoring, inspection and labeling functions are spread across 12 federal agencies. "Our current food safety system has turned into a food fight," Durbin said. Durbin and DeLauro said the involvement of so many agencies can result in duplication of responsibilities, service gaps and inconsistencies and confusion about which agency oversees different types of food. "We can do much better by consolidating food safety into one single agency, where research, monitoring, risk assessment, and enforcement can be coordinated and improved," said DeLauro, the co-chair of the Congressional Food Safety Caucus. Some of the new responsibilities under the proposed Food Safety Administration include: Regular, but random, inspection of all food processing plants A categorized review process for all foods to monitor and inspect them based on their risk, not their name Increased oversight of imported foods Established requirements for tracing foods to point of origin. The Food Safety Administration would be comprised of approximately 14,000 people, moved from various departments. According to the 2004 enacted budget of the agencies, approximately $1.9 billion would be used for the creation of the new Food Safety Administration. The lawmakers said it was unlikely that Congress would consider the bill this year, but they plan to introduce the measure again early next year.

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