In California food safety efforts, State Senator Dean Florez's bill was the only vehicle left at the end of this year's policy deadline.  Due to budget constraints, the Senator's mandatory recall language was stripped from the bill, and allowed the Department of Public Health to create a voluntary recall food safety system for California food products.  On October 11, 2009, the bill was vetoed by the Governor.  The bill number is SB 173 and the language can be accessed on this website.

Federal food safety efforts continue in Washington.  Congressman Dingell introduced legislation increasing the Food & Drug Administration's (FDA) authority in food safety. This bill creates sweeping reforms including:

• Requiring processors to register with FDA on an annual basis

• Removing the "reasonable belief" clause in record investigations, therefore allowing FDA access to all records from the farm to the processor level (without a confidentiality requirement for proprietary information)

• Granting FDA mandatory recall and regional quarantine authority

• Requiring FDA to establish a product-tracing system

In recent news, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Environment Committee passed S. 510, the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act introduced by Senator Durbin.  Earlier this year, the Durbin bill, which has broad bipartisan support, emerged as the consensus food safety bill in the Senate.

S. 510 is generally seen as more workable for agriculture than the House bill, with far fewer onerous requirements and no registration or inspection fees.  Key provisions of S. 510 include:

 

·         Registration:  the bill requires facilities to register with the FDA. Facilities are thereafter only required to reregister every other year through a streamlined renewal process.

 

·         Suspension of Registration:  the bill allows the Secretary to suspend a facility’s registration if there is a reasonable probability of causing serious adverse health consequences or death.

 

·         Hazard Analysis and Food Safety Plan:  the bill requires every facility to perform a hazard analysis and identify and implement preventive controls to significantly minimize or prevent those hazards.

 

·         Performance Standards: the bill requires the Secretary to issue contaminant-specific, science-based guidance or regulations to reduce the risk of the most significant food-borne contaminants.  These are required to apply to products or product classes, not to be facility-specific.

 

·         Standards for Produce Safety:  the bill requires FDA to establish science-based minimum standards for the safe production and harvesting of fruits and vegetable, prioritizing those raw ag commodities that have been associated with food-borne illness outbreaks.

 

·         Traceback:  the bill requires the establishment of a produce pilot project to explore and evaluate methods for rapidly and effectively tracking produce.  Based on the findings of the pilot project, 2 years after the bill is enacted, the Secretary will establish standards for the type of information, format, and timeframe for produce traceback.

 

·         Recall Authority:  the bill allows an opportunity for voluntary recall of an adulterated product.  If a voluntary recall is not issued, the bill grants the Secretary mandatory recall authority.

 

Timing for floor action:  Now that the bill is out of Committee, it could come up on the Senate floor at any time.  That said, health care will most likely take up much of the floor time in the Senate for the remainder of this year.  But if health care is stalled, a food safety bill could easily move to the floor for passage.  Most likely, this bill will move early next year—but we are working to be prepared for the possibility of floor movement at any time.