Food Safety Bill Finally Clears Congress

The Food Safety Modernization Act, a sweeping overhaul of federal food regulations, will become law after all, though there were plenty of times during the year that appeared doubtful.

The House of Representative gave final approval to the measure Tuesday evening and sent it to President Obama's desk for his signature. Once there, it will have completed a long a tortuous path.

Long journey

The House first passed the bill, which gives the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) expanded authority and resources, in July 2009. The Senate didn't get around to taking up the measure until the next year, but by then the legislation had gathered food industry support.

In May, Sen. Diane Feinstein proposed an amendment that would have banned the use of the chemical bisphenol A (BPA) in plastic food containers. At that point food industry support evaporated and the measure stalled until late November, when Feinstein withdrew the amendment.

The Senate passed the bill November 30, but it was different from the House version, so differences had to be worked out in conference. With the lame duck session calendar extremely crowded, it was by no means certain it would meet the deadline.

Final vote

However, the Senate passed the new version on Sunday and the House approved it 215 to 144 late Tuesday.

"This legislation will work to prevent food contamination before it occurs, steering away from our current focus on responding after an outbreak. It improves our ability to detect and respond to food-borne illness, increases the number of inspections the FDA must conduct, and, for the first time, requires importers of foreign food to verify that products grown and processed overseas meet U.S. safety standards," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). "With recent outbreaks of food-borne illness from common foods such as spinach, tomatoes, peanut butter, and cookie dough, the urgency of addressing this challenge could not be greater. And with the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, we will fundamentally change the way we protect public health and the safety of our food supply."

Shelley A. Hearne, managing director of the Pew Health Group, also applauded the vote, saying the new law will improve the safety of the nation's food supply and prevent foodborne illness. She noted the reform is the first major update to the law in over 70 years.

"Americans sitting at their dinner tables should have greater confidence that their food will be safe when this long-overdue law is put into place," Hearne said. "Preventable foodborne illness sickens millions and kills thousands of Americans every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Disease outbreaks from pathogens in FDA-regulated products such as eggs, produce, peanut products and many processed foods illustrate the need to update government safety oversight of both domestically-produced and imported foods."

The measure places more requirements on food companies to ensure food safety and gives the FDA more inspection power. And for the first time, the FDA will have the power to order food recalls, not simply request voluntary recalls.