Senate Leaders Release Manager's Package of FDA Food Safety Modernization Act
Friday, August 13, 2010(American Meat Institute)
Senate leaders have released a 225-page manager’s package of the Food Safety Modernization Act, S. 510, a step which may make it easier to bring the bill to the Senate floor for a vote following summer recess. The exact timing of Senate floor time is still to be determined by leadership.
The six Senators who negotiated the package include Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA), Ranking Member Mike Enzi (R-WY), authors of the Food Safety Modernization Act Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Judd Gregg (R-NH) and lead cosponsors Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Richard Burr (R-NC).
Two issues not addressed in the manager’s package but have been a part of the discussion of S. 510, are amendments that could be offered by Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Senator John Tester (D-MT). Senator Feinstein is seeking to ban Bisphenol A (BPA) from baby bottles, sippy cups, baby food and infant formula. Senator Tester is seeking to exempt small operations from the bill’s hazard analysis and risk-based preventive controls requirements and traceability requirements and FDA Produce Standards.
“Any 100-year-old plus structure – like our nation’s food safety system – needs improvements,” said the lawmakers upon release of the package. “With this announcement today, we aim to not just patch and mend our fragmented food safety system, we hope to reinforce the infrastructure, close the gaps and create a systematic, risk-based and balanced approach to food safety in the United States. The FDA Food Safety Modernization Act will place more emphasis on prevention of food borne illness and will provide new tools to respond to food safety problems. We look forward to working with our respective leaderships to take up this bipartisan legislation as soon as possible.”
Click here to see the full manager’s package and Congressional Budget Office Analysis: http://help.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/WHI10337.pdf
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