Friday, October 23, 2009
Food Safety Reform Gains Momentum Following HELP Hearing
We’re all familiar with the stories: food outbreaks linked to spinach, peppers, peanut products, and cookie dough. These outbreaks have sickened far too many Americans and made two things clear: our current regulatory system does not adequately protect Americans from serious, widespread food-borne illnesses and the dangers associated with food-borne outbreaks are profound.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that food-borne diseases cause approximately 76 million illnesses each year, including approximately 325,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths in the United States. These numbers are staggering and totally intolerable.
For over a decade now, I have urged FDA and USDA to strengthen our food safety system, and I have introduced several reform bills. In addition, I have been working closely with FDA to explore more effective ways of safeguarding America’s food supply. And now as Chairman of the Senate HELP Committee, I intend to continue my efforts to make our food safer.
On Thursday, the HELP Committee held a hearing to explore how we can increase the safety of our food system.
At the hearing we heard from five great witnesses, including new FDA Commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg, who said she wants to move towards a system where we not only react to outbreaks of food borne illnesses, but also take greater steps to prevent them. We agree that regulations should be effective, but not excessively burdensome for farmers and food processors for whom production, preparation, or sale of food is a source of livelihood. We also agreed that we need effective surveillance and enforcement measures, so that contaminated foods do not make it onto our kitchen tables. To accomplish all of these things, we must modernize food safety programs at FDA.
The momentum to act on food safety legislation is there, and I plan to work with my colleagues in Congress and the Administration to pass comprehensive a measure as soon as possible.
