S. 654

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., introduced the Safe Food Act on Feb. 15th with these words.

The E. coli outbreaks from fresh produce that occurred at the end of 2006 may prove to be the critical events for the produce industry as the Jack in the Box outbreak was for the meat industry. Three people died and nearly 200 were sickened in 26 States due to E. coli that was traced back to packaged spinach.
The breadth of the problem of foodborne illness is stunning. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that as many as 76 million people suffer from food poisoning each year. Of those individuals, approximately 325,000 will be hospitalized and more than 5,000 will die. Children and the elderly are especially vulnerable to foodborne pathogens. Despite these statistics, our food supply is still the safest in the world; however, there are widening gaps in our food safety system due to the fact that food safety oversight has evolved over time and is spread across several agencies.

TK: From the farm bill to food safety, there is a lot of activity on Capital Hill in the next few weeks. While some talking points for a single food safety agency resonate - "USDA has jurisdiction if the sandwich is a packaged open-face meat or poultry sandwich that contains one slice of bread. If the sandwich is a closed-face meat or poultry sandwich, meaning it has two slices of bread, FDA inspects it" -- other arguments such as cost/benefits of a new agency militate against it. The industry should stay out of this debate if possible.