Does the New Food Safety Bill Have Teeth?

The comments at the bottom of the article pretty much sum up my feelings.

Are you not afraid someone might cram-a-rat in your food?

If properly prepared, rat is every bit as tasty as squirrel.

Why not comment on the bill not someones opinion of the bill?

Official Summary

12/19/2010--Passed Senate amended. (This summary will be expanded.) FDA Food Safety Modernization Act - Title I: Improving Capacity to Prevent Food Safety Problems - Amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA) to expand the food safety activities of the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), including to authorize the Secretary to inspect records related to food.

Exempts certain establishments that sell food directly to consumers, such as roadside stands, farmers markets or participants in a community supported agriculture program, from specified requirements of this Act.

Requires each owner, operator, or agent in charge of a food facility to identify and implement preventive controls to significantly minimize or prevent hazards that could affect food manufactured, processed, packed, or held by such facility. Sets forth provisions governing exemptions from such requirements for certain facilities. Requires the Secretary to:

(1) issue guidance documents to reduce the risk from the most significant foodborne contaminants; and

(2) establish minimum standards for the safe production and harvesting of fruits and vegetables based on known safety risks. Authorizes the Secretary to issue exemptions and variances from such standards. Directs the Secretary to assess and collect fees related to:

(1) food facility reinspection;

(2) food recalls;

(3) the voluntary qualified importer program; and

(4) importer reinspection. Directs the Secretary to develop voluntary food allergy and anaphylaxis management guidelines for schools and early childhood education programs. Title II: Improving Capacity to Detect and Respond to Food Safety

Problems - Requires the Secretary to:

(1) allocate resources to inspect facilities and imported food according to the known safety risks of the facilities or food; and

(2) establish a product tracing system to track and trace food that is in the United States or offered for import into the United States. Requires the Secretary, acting through the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), to enhance foodborne illness surveillance systems to improve the collection, analysis, reporting, and usefulness of data on foodborne illnesses. Gives the Secretary the authority to order a recall of an article of food. Title III: Improving the Safety of Imported Food - Requires U.S. importers to perform risk-based foreign supplier verification activities to verify that imported food is produced in compliance with applicable requirements related to hazard analysis and standards for produce safety and is not adulterated or misbranded. Requires the Secretary to establish a program to expedite review and importation of food offered for importation by U.S. importers who have voluntarily agreed to participate in such program. Authorizes the Secretary to:

(1) require a certification that an article of food imported or offered for import complies with applicable requirements of this Act; and

(2) enter into arrangements and agreements with foreign governments to facilitate the inspection of registered foreign facilities. Requires food to be refused admission into the United States if permission to inspect the food facility is denied by the facility owner, operator, or agent or the foreign country. Sets forth provisions governing the establishment of a system to recognize bodies that accredit third-party auditors and audit agents to certify that foreign entities meet applicable FFDCA requirements for importation of food into the United States. Title IV: Miscellaneous Provisions - Authorizes appropriations for FY2011-FY2015 for the activities of the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, the Center for Veterinary Medicine, and related field activities in the Office of Regulatory Affairs of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Directs the Secretary to increase the field staff of such Centers and Office. Establishes whistleblower's protections for employees of entities involved in the manufacturing, processing, packing, transporting, distribution, reception, holding, or importation of food who provide information relating to any FFDCA violation.

(This summary will be expanded) Translation- Here are some things that look pretty good. Later, when your not paying attention, we will will load it up with useless, wasteful and even harmful crap.

That pretty much says it all. We've got plenty of food safety regulations in place and they work. This is expansion of an already bloated government. Oh......further government control too.

And don't point to the bad eggs that were out recently. That was one company, which by the way, falls under the jurisdiction of the USDA and the FDA. This didn't happen because of a lack of regulation. It happened because the agencies already in place weren't doing their jobs.

The site is not the congressional record, you can go find the whole bill

there haven't been regs for produce

I worked in food plants & have friends still working in food plants

as soon as meat is involved , the rules change

there really haven't been very many rules for produce, grain & the like. this stuff has been don't ask don't tell. It was left to mostly the counties & no one was really in charge of imports, USDA & DOT/homeland security were tied up by conflicting stuff, this helps address that

stuff like chain of custody just make sense

HACCP [hazard analysis of critical control points] has it's roots in the jack in the box thing of a few years ago...

these regs apply the same sorts of standards & methods

when food travels beyond word of mouth we need better more formalized ways of tracking, that decrease overlap.

there has been more than ample opportunity for the market to catch up, act responsibly & catch up with conditions on the ground

whether or not there were riders on the bill is really a different issue that should be looked at individually on their own merits. We could certainly have a nice discussion about the legislative process, but once again a different subject than food safety

I wasn't aware that we had a problem with food safety.

I don't have any ammo for a debate, I'm just suspect of all new bills, especially a last minute cram through bill by a lame duck congress.

I was in the grocery store yesterday. Most produce is coming fom Mexico, seafood from Indonesia, Chile, etc. I suspect that ultimately this bill will only end up hurting US food producers, again........no proof, but I wouldn't be a bit surprised. I have an inherent distrust of government.......right and left.

Decades of empty promises and good intentions from both sides have left this country in a very precarious position.

I have an inherent distrust of people like yourself who generalize and politicize every friggin thing.

Good. Register, come back and tell me that there is nothing in this bill that is politically motivated, and we'll see what happens.

No earmark spending in there either.........right.

Don't forget your mantra....government is good, more is better....keep saying that buddy, things will get better.

Keep making your stupid assumptions.

Hey.......that was a vicious personal attack. Take it easy buddy.

I can also assume that you don't live in the US. All bills are politically motivated to some extent, and all bills have very easy to spot political components within them. We refer to these as earmarks.

Since you're not a US citizen, and don't really understand how things work here, I'm not going to get into a long explanation. A little google searching should help bring you up to speed. Hope this helps buddy..........try to relax.

Yeah - I bet that rocked you to your socks, an you're all teary now.

Me - not being from America, either - just lurking on this - am wondering why this is 'necessary'. Or if you like, the receivers of such produce are not demanding data loggers, or temp tags, or such like, accompany each shipment.

As you may know Australia does a lot of food shipping around the world, but especially to Japan. Basically, if the stuff is not 'guaranteed' to have remained in the environmental conditions as agreed to and promised - it's rejected.

With Japan in particular, it's not a matter of conforming to a 'code' - but often exceeding all regulation, to land an acceptably "live" or "off the local wharf", or out of the back garden, indistinguishable product.

So I'm wondering - presuming there are minimum 'safety' standards in place, is it just lack of 'market forces' on 'quality'?

I can barely see the screen through my tears........that was brutal.

Like I said to garthh, I don't know exactly what this bill is about, but we already have pretty stringent food safety laws on the books......right down to inspections on local restaurants for safe practices and cleanliness.

We've got the USDA and the FDA inspecting most everything. Cases of food borne illness is fairly rare in the US, which is why I find this new bill suspect.

Market forces also play a large role in our food supply........no large, or small, food suppliers want their name associated with bad or tainted food. Hell, any of us that work for a living knows, that if you turn out crap, eventually it's going to spell your own end.

We'll see what this bill is really all about soon. I do know that it will cost a lot of money.............and that seems to be in short supply lately. I know, I know..................if it saves just one life, it will be worth it. I get tired of hearing that line, too. We're all gonna die, get over it. (Not directed at you, just my general attitude).

The bottom line is..........if the US government continues to impose regulations on US companies, whether they produce food, or widgets, that no one else on the planet has to adhere to, whether it saves a life or not........it's gonna kill us, economically speaking.

This is not an anti government stance.............it's a fact.

Actually receivers are increasingly requiring more complete documentation

problem is every one has their own version of what the paperwork should look like

there are standards, but once again not consistent, there is also overlap

Don't confuse grading, which defines shape, color & the like with chain of custody, growing/storage/processing methods, once again there is overlap

p.s. another Anonymous Coward [or more ] does a drive by...

Expanding government and imposing new rules and regulations on food producers when we're $14,000,000,000,000 in debt seems akin to doing a house remodel while in the middle of foreclosure proceedings............but, that's just my opinion. What do I know?

I was working for a food plant after jack in the box, 911 & a GMO scare [tacobell corn tortillas] I saw the way a big company handled food safety/GMP[good manufacturing practices] & how they evolved over a short period, along with sap, a couple of iso9000 iterations

there isn't much difference on paper between cumbersome & highly effective systems

iSO fer instance the rules are document what you do & then actually do what you have codified. Sounds simple, but if you get too specific, changes become complex & the process of change a layer of independat bureaucracy

overall having a system that is audited by a 3rd party is good, as long as the failure analysis is done. in the early stages don't be shy about doing basic restructuring

In short there is a path forward to make the gov more efficent. mustering the political will is a different story

focusing on the real issue of efficiency, instead of diversions...

this food bill has been in the works for probably 3 or 4 years

mustering the political will is a different story

focusing on the real issue of efficiency, instead of diversions...

Once again, I think we're kind of in agreement, we just have a funny way of doing it.

I could also see this spilling over into farmers markets, co-ops, etc. My brother makes the bulk of his living on a very small organic produce farm. He also keeps bees and produces honey that he sells. He's not getting rich by any means. No one has ever become sick from his products. If onerous regulations are imposed on him, it would probably drive him out of business.

I know we actually agree

Your brother may have to document where his supplies & who is buying his products, but he's already doing most, if not all of that if he's certified organic.

the cut off for small [not affected by this] is $500k. there will be some trickle down from companies that use small suppliers & will require more comprehensive record keeping

It's going to be a requirement & an opportunity. the more extensive records will also allow the discovery of some trends & quantify aspects of his operation

There is probably a nice little sideline [for someone] doing a MRP [materials resource planning] thing for people like your brother

Another way to go [assuming he's over $500k] is to do some bartering to reduce the total...

The comments at the bottom pretty much sum up a lot of peoples feelings. That's a pity. Fictional 'hero' Holden Cauldfield would be proud that so many people now see the world through his jaundiced eyes.

This bill specifically exempts small farms, road side stands, and farmers markets. So why the argument that it is going to drive small farms out of business, and ban home vegetable gardens? Because that's an argument that might work, while an honest statement of the complaint 'it will impose costs on us giant agribusiness that we would rather not pay' might not. Rich and powerful interests have had a lot of success with this type of argument so they are unlikely to abandon it.

It appears that this bill would for the first time give regulators authority over imported foods. So why argue that this is a plot to make the US dependent on imported foods? Same reason: this argument might work, while the real complaint (that it imposes regulations on importers, adding to their costs) might not. We are already quite dependent on imported produce - just check out those little labels in the produce department of your local supermarket. It's January. Do you know where your imported lettuce has been? Don't forget to wash your salad and then cook it to an internal temperature of at least 165 F before you eat it.

This ability of the deep pocket crowd to convince so many of us to vote and argue and protest against our own interests is astonishing. They have discovered that it's cheaper to mount a massive propaganda campaign than it is to wash the e. coli off the spinach. I can understand why so many people are distrustful of government. We have all watched over the years as our government has been corrupted by 'special interests', mostly large businesses. What I can't understand is why we blame the government for being susceptible to this corruption, and not the business interests who promote it and gain from it. If your local police are having problems with gang activity do you offer your support to the gangs?

I only read a few of the comments at the bottom of the article. I don't know if you read the rest of my posts, but I was honest about not knowing what exactly the bill is about.

Whenever a bill is, or seems to be, jammed through, I am always suspect. I always want to know what earmarks have been attached, how exactly this is going to be a direct benefit to the American people, who exactly it's going to effect and how, etc. etc.

This doesn't make me anti government or a lover of big business. With the bills that have been rammed through recently, that are all expensive, and either accomplish nothing or could damage the country in the long run, we should all be on the watch and asking these questions. If all of us become complacent, and just assume that the government is doing the right things to take care of us........I think we'd be in real trouble.

This may be overly simplistic, but I look at politicians the way the owner of a company would view his/her employees. America is the company, the politicians are the employees, and the citizens are the boss............Well, our company doesn't look to be in very good shape at the moment. I think it can be said that our politicians/employees have played an extensive role in getting us where we are.

You're darned right I don't exactly trust them...........and I want to know what they're up to.

As the bosses, all of us need to hold them up to a standard of practice that is going to be beneficial to the company, (America), anything less and we're gonna end up screwed.

This bill was hardly rammed through - it has been in the works for a few years. It was passed handily by the house two or three times (the first being in '09), only to die in the senate because a very small minority of senators used arcane Senate rules to oppose it. When it finally made it to the floor it passed 74 to 25, and then again (due to a technical glitch that requires all bills that entail funding be originated in the House) by 73 to 25.

It may seem like a lot got rammed through in December, but that's because so much has been stonewalled by a few senators who perhaps have more on their minds than just the well being of the public. Only when faced with the reality that their foot dragging might cost them a lovely Christmas vacation did they back off. So I would assume that this means their opposition was purely tactical, and did not indicate a principled opposition. Lots of people work through Christmas.

I said earlier that I don't have any ammo for a debate.

From my perspective, when I'm seeing double digit growth in places like China and India, while I'm seeing trillions in debt and unemployment hovering around 10% here in the US, combined with the fact that the last two bills to be signed were, 1) millions of dollars to install salad bars in public schools. And, 2) a new safe food bill, I have to wonder where the priorities of our politicians lie. They don't seem to be in line with mine. Hell, the only other thing they seem to be concerned with, is raising the debt ceiling.

Sorry if that bothers you. As far as this particular bill goes...........we'll just have to see.

As far as I'm concerned, no votes should be held during a lame duck session.

China and India have double digit growth because they can put ten people to work on a given job for what it costs us to hire one. That's why there're booming and we're sucking air. There is nothing significant we can do about this but (1) improve the quality of our workforce, through better health and education, and (2) reduce our costs.

By far the most serious government cost problem is in heath care. The combined budgets for the all the regulatory agencies in the US are chump change by comparison. Health care costs are rising because the people who provide the services want more money, people who don't provide the service (insurance companies) want more money (they skim off ~30%), there are more people all the time getting older and wanting healthcare, and they are less and less healthy. I've heard that salad is good for you. If we ate better we would be healthier, and would require less medical treatment. That seems like a good idea. It also cuts government expenses.

(1) improve the quality of our workforce, through better health and education, and (2) reduce our costs.

And the new Food Safety Bill is going to accomplish these things......how?

If we're going to improve the quality of our workforce through better health, the only way I can see that happening is if the government mandates strict dietary guidelines, which will have to become law. Anyone that deviates from said guidelines will be fined, jailed or both.

Some of the most unhealthy and obese Americans are those on welfare/food stamps/Medicaid. Victims of well intentioned government programs gone awry.

Insurance companies skim off 30% of all medical spending...........I doubt the validity of that statement. If that's true, the new healthcare bill will require all of us to purchase health insurance. That's going to help us.....how?

Your own words indicate that the healthcare bill is a glaring example of government in the pocket of big business. Please continue, you're making my point better than I could have.

Suppose you were an idiot and suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself. - Mark Twain

The purpose of the bill is to protect the public against independent food production. Think back to the recent food scares. They were frightening because they were BIG. Large concerns made mistakes or simply neglected the most rudimentary precautions and killed and sickened scores of people. The new bill will raise higher barriers to entry into the food market, ensuring that, in future, only the big concerns will be allowed to feed us. No more farmer's markets, and in due time, no more family gardens, either.

Food will therefore become more dangerous, not less so.

this bill is about large concerns, not farmers markets, not your garden, small producers are exempt

Modern logistics systems, have made the it of utmost importance to bring the record keeping & tracking of food to the same level

some of the provisions, begin to level the playing field, by increasing the compliance of imported food

these regulations are aimed at produce

meat, eggs & dairy already follow similar regs

Look guys.............the bottom line is, I've been working and earning money for about 35 years. Sometimes making great money, sometimes not so much...........but always working. That has changed. I'm still getting work, but not enough. I also hate whining, so I'll stop there.

I hope you can understand why I'm not exactly thrilled to hear about salad bars and a new food safety act. From where I'm sitting it seems like a stupid waste of time, effort, and money.

If no one can afford to buy the freaking food, what the hell good is it?

Will Chinese restaurants be required to have at least one live cat on their premises now?