Lawmakers scrutinize food safety

http://www.bakersfield.com/news/business/economy/x616724867/Lawmakers-scrutinize-food-safety-regulations


Lawmakers scrutinize food safety regulations
BY COURTENAY EDELHART, Californian staff writer

Food safety proposals that would give the U.S. Food and Drug Administration far broader authority to regulate how food is grown and processed have divided farmers.

Some would like to see voluntary industry safety precautions made standard and mandatory nationwide to win back the confidence of frightened consumers. Others say additional bureaucracy would cost too much time and money even as many growers and ranchers are struggling to keep from going under.

In July, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that would be the most significant overhaul of food safety laws since the 1930s.

The Senate is expected to take up a similar bill after returning from its August recess. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., is the sponsor.

Both measures would step up inspections and make sweeping changes to every phase of food production, from the farm to the consumer's tabletop. At each stop along that journey, producers, processors and manufacturers would be required to identify risks of food-borne illness and create a plan to address those risks.

The focus on food safety follows a spate of recent outbreaks that have sickened thousands of Americans who ate products as varied as cookie dough, peanuts, peppers, pistachios and spinach.

An estimated 76 million cases of foodborne disease occur each year in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Some 5,000 of those cases are fatal.

"We need comprehensive food safety reform as soon as possible," said Ami Gadhia, policy counsel for Consumers Union, one of several consumer groups pushing for closer scrutiny of the nation's food supply. "The system has been in pretty bad shape for a long time, and it needs to be updated."

The California Farm Bureau Federation says it strongly supports initiatives to make food safer, but has reservations about the proposals currently under consideration.

There aren't provisions to compensate growers who suffer losses related to a quarantine or recall, for one thing.

The bureau's director of public policy, Jack King, pointed to last spring's warning to avoid tomatoes before further investigation found that, in fact, it was peppers that had sickened more than 1,400 people.

The false alarm cost the U.S. tomato industry an estimated $100 million in sales.

Some also are worried about the quarantine threshold being too low because it kicks in upon reasonable suspicion of contamination rather than when a problem is confirmed.

King added he'd prefer a voluntary system of certification to one managed by the government.

"We like the ability to do adaptive management where you can make changes as needed," he said. "We worry a little about one-size-fits all regulations."

Trade groups note the success of the California Leafy Green Products Handler Marketing Agreement, an industry safety program initiated after a deadly 2006 E. coli outbreak in spinach.

The program has become a model for other states, and some foreign buyers won't purchase California spinach from anyone who doesn't participate.

Gadhia at Consumers Union readily concedes that "the majority of growers and food processors are doing the right thing most of the time, but there are people who don't.

"Food needs to be safe no matter who you buy it from and whether or not you're rich or poor."

Western Growers, a trade group of more than 3,000 farmers in California and Arizona, says it's OK with expanding the scope of safety precautions and giving them the force of law.

"We have an awful lot invested in the food safety issue," said Western Growers President Tom Nassif. "We know how important the trust of the consumer is, because once you lose it, it's hard to get it back."

The other advantage to adopting a law nationwide is it helps California farmers compete with growers in states and foreign countries that have lower safety standards.

"This evens the playing field, because right now some of our California growers are at a disadvantage," said Rep. Jim Costa, D-Fresno, who helped work on the bill that passed in the House.

It's not clear yet exactly when the Senate version will come up for a vote, with debate still underway on such high-profile issues as health care reform and climate change.

But local growers such as Pete Belluomini of Lehr Brothers will watch closely.

"Nobody likes more regulation," he said. "But in a changing time and a changing world, some of it, to a degree, may be necessary."