Finding Food Safety Bill Funding is Next Step

Tuesday, President Obama signed into law the historic food-safety bill.  But now it's time to pay for it so the coalition of food-industry, public-interest and consumer groups that used a public-health message to win its passage must now make an argument for its funding. Funding for the law is in question as Republicans assume control of the House and pledge to shrink not expand the federal bureaucracy.

Even with tight money, Erik Olson, director of food and consumer safety programs at the Pew Health Group, says this is money extremely well spent to save money over the long run. The Congressional Budget Office estimated the food-safety law would cost about US$1.4 billion in its first five years, including the cost of hiring an estimated 2,000 additional food inspectors.

A study released last year by the Produce Safety Project at Georgetown University estimated that food-borne illnesses cost the country US$152 billion a year in medical costs, lost productivity and other expenses, not including costs to the food industry incurred when a product is recalled. Still, Representative Jack Kingston of Georgia, the ranking Republican on the Appropriations subcommittee that oversees the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), says the number of cases of food-borne illnesses in the country does not justify the cost of the new law.

The overhaul is designed to shift the mission of the FDA from reacting to tainted food after an illness occurs to preventing outbreaks in the first place. It requires manufacturers and farmers to develop strategies to prevent contamination, then continually test to make sure they work. The legislation also gives the FDA the authority to recall food; currently, it must rely on food companies to pull products voluntarily from the shelves. Read more...

This blog is written by Martin Little The Aquaculturists, published and supported by the International Aquafeed Magazine from Perendale Publishers.