Legislators introduce bill to consolidate food safety responsibilities at federal level

A senator and representative are calling for a single agency to be established to deal with food safety in America.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-CT, and Sen. Dick Durbin, D-IL, have introduced the Federal Food Administration Act in their respective chambers. The legislation would establish the Federal Food Administration, which would be a single agency responsible for ensuring the safety of food and promoting good nutrition.

There are currently more than a dozen agencies with responsibilities for food safety, with the lion’s share of the responsibility going to the Food and Drug Administration. The FDA is responsible for overseeing 80 percent of the nation’s food supply, with almost all of the other food, most notable meat and poultry, being the responsibility of the USDA. Other agencies involved in food safety include the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Homeland Security, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, the Food and Nutrition Service, the Department of Commerce, the Federal Trade Commission, the Department of the Treasury, the Department of Transportation, the National Marine Fisheries Service, and a more. The General Accounting Office reports that there are 16 entities involved in food safety.

Food safety advocates such as STOP Foodborne Illness and Consumer Reports  in addition to a number of U.S. representatives and senators, have been calling for the consolidation of food safety efforts for years, but neither Congress nor the Department of Health and Human Services have responded. Although it is charged with overseeing more than 80 percent of the nation’s food supply, the Food and Drug Administration’s budget is mostly devoted to the drug side of the agency.

“I have long said that food safety is a second-class citizen at the Food and Drug Administration,” said DeLauro, who is the ranking member of the House Appropriations Committee. 

“I believe we need a single food safety agency solely focused on keeping the foods that we eat, safe. Creating a single food safety agency could prevent avoidable product contaminations and subsequent recalls that disrupt the supply chain, contribute to rising prices, and in many cases, result in consumer illness and death. The 2022 infant formula shortage made this abundantly clear.”

Durbin has similar reasons for introducing the legislation in the Senate. He said the goal of the legislation is to protect food on dining room tables across the nation. 

“In recent years, FDA has been plagued by one failure after another — from a failure to protect babies from bacterial infections in their infant formula, to a failure to protect children from lead-tainted applesauce pouches,” said Durbin. “The sad reality is that FDA has not used its authority to protect Americans from preventable illness and death. For that reason, Congresswoman DeLauro and I are introducing legislation to transfer all of FDA’s food responsibilities to a new agency.”

The proposed legislation would be a positive step in reorganizing the country’s human foods program to improve operations and create accountability, according to Brian Ronholm, director of food policy at Consumer Reports.

“Ultimately, we need an independent, single agency focused solely on preventing foodborne illness and promoting nutrition goals in order to effectively carry out its mission,” Ronholm said. Consumer Reports strongly supports this bill and applauds Sen. Durbin and Rep. DeLauro for their tireless efforts on this issue.”

Even though the FDA regulates the vast majority of the U.S. food supply with its increased authorities, including the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2011, the agency has failed to make significant inroads in reducing rates of foodborne illness and death in the U.S., according th a statement from Delauro and Durbin. 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that about one in six Americans — or 48 million people — get sick from a foodborne illness each year. According to the CDC, 128,000 people in the United States are hospitalized and 3,000 die from foodborne diseases each year. 

The Federal Food Administration Act would take food regulation out of the Food and Drug Administration and establish a Federal Food Administration under the Department of Health and Human Services by incorporating the existing food programs within FDA into this separate agency: the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN), Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM), Office of Food Policy and Response (OFPR), and the Office of Regulatory Affairs (ORA). This agency would be led by an expert confirmed by the Senate.

Although the FDA has undertaken a reorganization of the Human Foods Program to better protect people from foodborne illnesses, a unified structure under HHS with a Senate-confirmed Commissioner will strengthen oversight of the food supply, improve the health and well-being of Americans, and enhance the ability of companies to operate effectively, according to the legislators’ statement.

Joining Durbin and DeLauro as an original cosponsor of this legislation is Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT).

You can find the bill text here.

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