FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Chambliss, Isakson Applaud Help Committee Passage of Food Safety Bill
Committee Unanimously Approves Bill to Enhance Food Safety Standards

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., and Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., today announced that the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions unanimously approved a bipartisan measure to enhance current Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authority to better protect our nation’s food supply.  Sens. Chambliss and Isakson are co-sponsors of the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act. 

“I applaud the committee for taking swift action to make this bill one step closer to becoming law,” said Chambliss, Ranking Member of the Senate Agriculture Committee.  “Whether produced domestically or imported, Americans must be able to trust that the food sold in their grocery stores and restaurants is safe. It is critical to ensure the FDA has the tools it needs to properly monitor and inspect the food that is consumed in this country.  This legislation affords regulators the authority they need to better identify vulnerabilities in our food supply while maintaining the high level of food safety most Americans enjoy and take for granted.”

“In this global economy, food ingredients originate from a number of possible sources, and this legislation will help ensure the safety of our nation’s food supply by improving the Food and Drug Administration’s capabilities to oversee food inspection,” said Isakson, who is a member of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.  “This bill strikes the right balance between the critical need to protect our nation’s food sources from wide-spread contamination and outbreaks without compromising our nation’s farmer and food processors.”

The legislation calls for an increase in the frequency of FDA inspections at all food facilities, grants the FDA expanded access to records and testing results, and allows the FDA the authority to order mandatory recalls should a private entity fail to do so voluntarily upon the FDA’s request.

Highlights of the bill include:

Hazard analysis and preventive controls : Requires all facilities that manufacture, process, pack or hold food to have in place risk-based preventive control plans to address identified hazards and prevent adulteration, and gives FDA access to these plans and relevant documentation.

Imports : Requires importers to verify the safety of foreign suppliers and imported food. Allows FDA to require certification for high-risk foods, and to deny entry to a food that lacks certification or that is from a foreign facility that has refused U.S. inspectors. Creates a voluntary qualified importer program in which importers with a certification of safety for their foreign supplier can pay a user-free for expedited entry into the U.S.

Inspection : Requires FDA to inspect all food facilities more frequently, including inspections of high-risk facilities at least once a year and inspections of other facilities at least once every four years.

Mandatory Recall : Gives FDA the authority to order a mandatory recall of a food product if the food will cause serious adverse health consequences or death and a company had failed to voluntarily recall the product upon FDA’s request.

Administrative Detention : Gives FDA the authority to administratively detain any food that is misbranded or adulterated under the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.

Increases FDA Resources :  Increases funding for FDA’s food safety activities through increased appropriations and targeted fees for food facility reinspection, food recalls, and the voluntary qualified importer program.

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