Proposed Food Safety Reforms

• HR 2749: Food Safety Enhancement Act
  
• S 510: Proposed Bill in the Senate
  

Research and Analysis

• What FDA food safety legislation must do
  As Congress considers food safety legislation, it is essential to include the following requirements aimed at protecting the public health.
• Consumer Groups' Assessment of Senate FDA Food Safety Bill
  The Make Our Food Safe Coalition, of which Consumers Union is a member, supports the main provisions of S.510, the Food Safety Modernization Act. It also urges that the Senate strengthen the provisions on frequency of inspections for food processors, and on imported food, and require processors to test and report to FDA any results showing disease organisms.
• New Poll Data Shows Broad Public Support for Food Safety Reform
  Americans’ Attitudes On Food Safety-Findings from a nationwide survey of registered voters, conducted by Hart Research Associates and Public Opinion Strategies

News Coverage of the Bill

• Battling Back Bacteria, Science Progress (Sept. 15, 2009)
  A New Plan to Protect Farmers and Eaters Alike
• Food Registry, Washington Post (Sept. 15, 2009)
  The FDA takes a step toward improved safety, but Congress still needs to act.
• Lunch Bag Event and Iowa Event Coverage (Sept. 2-10, 2009)
  
  • Members of the "Make Our Food Safe" campaign delivered lunch bags to the Senator Richard Burr’s office, which included information about the prevelance of food-borne illnesses.
  • Iowa Senator Tom Harkin supports changes in food safety regulations, including more testing, better tracking and faster response to outbreaks.
• This Woman Might Die From Eating Cookie Dough, Washington Post (Sept. 1, 2009)
  LAS VEGAS -- In Room 519 of Kindred Hospital, Linda Rivera can no longer speak. Her mute state, punctuated only by groans, is the latest downturn in the swift collapse of her health that began in May when she curled up on her living room couch and nonchalantly ate several spoonfuls of the Nestlé cookie dough her family had been consuming for years. Federal health officials believe she is among 80 people in 31 states sickened by cookie dough contaminated with a deadly bacteria, E. coli O157:H7.
• Freshening up food safety, St. Louis Today (Aug. 9, 2009)
  U.S. food safety laws are like an egg-salad sandwich that’s been left too long in the sun: Once perfectly good, it now is apt to make you sick. For the first time since World War II, Congress last week took a step toward freshening up those laws. The House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a bill that would give the Food and Drug Administration new authority to set standards and order recalls of tainted foods.
• Vote for Safer Food, New York Times (July 29, 2009)
  Far too many Americans are falling ill after eating foods tainted with salmonella, E. coli and other pathogens.