WASHINGTON —Two major foodservice industry groups have voiced concerns about an anticipated federal measure that seeks to overhaul the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and address problems with the nation’s food supply.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee issued a discussion draft of the Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009, which was designed to strengthen the nation’s food safety system and respond to recent food poisoning outbreaks involving such items as peanut products, peppers and spinach. —Two major foodservice industry groups have voiced concerns about an anticipated federal measure that seeks to overhaul the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and address problems with the nation’s food supply.
The bill, whose official introduction was imminent at press time, is co-sponsored by committee chair Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., and chair emeritus Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich. It would give the FDA more power to investigate food producers, require food manufacturers to write and facilitate safety plans, and track and recall unsafe food products, among other things. —Two major foodservice industry groups have voiced concerns about an anticipated federal measure that seeks to overhaul the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and address problems with the nation’s food supply.
The National Council of Chain Restaurants and the National Restaurant Association indicated that House lawmakers are hoping to fast-track a food-safety reform measure because they are expecting the debate over health care reform to monopolize their attention during the summer. The Senate is not expected to move as quickly. —Two major foodservice industry groups have voiced concerns about an anticipated federal measure that seeks to overhaul the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and address problems with the nation’s food supply.
Industry officials, however, are wary of certain provisions in the Waxman-Dingell measure. “There are a lot of things that are good in the bill, but we have concerns about its impact on restaurateurs,” said Scott Vinson, vice president of the NCCR in Washington, D.C. —Two major foodservice industry groups have voiced concerns about an anticipated federal measure that seeks to overhaul the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and address problems with the nation’s food supply.
Beth Johnson, the NRA’s executive vice president of Public Affairs, said the NRA is “encouraged by the fact that there has been some movement in Congress to create a stronger food-safety system. We want to make sure that food coming in the back door [of restaurants] is as safe as possible.” —Two major foodservice industry groups have voiced concerns about an anticipated federal measure that seeks to overhaul the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and address problems with the nation’s food supply.
She also praised the measure’s focus on preventive controls and its application of a risk-based approach to food safety. —Two major foodservice industry groups have voiced concerns about an anticipated federal measure that seeks to overhaul the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and address problems with the nation’s food supply.
But Johnson also said several aspects of the Waxman-Dingell draft could be problematic for foodservice operators. —Two major foodservice industry groups have voiced concerns about an anticipated federal measure that seeks to overhaul the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and address problems with the nation’s food supply.
The industry has felt the repercussions from a number of food poisoning outbreaks over the past several years. Most recently, nine people died and more than 700 were poisoned after they ate foods containing salmonella-tainted peanut products made by Peanut Corp. of America in Blakely, Ga. After the tainted food items were traced back to PCA’s plants, federal inspectors examined those facilities and found filthy conditions. —Two major foodservice industry groups have voiced concerns about an anticipated federal measure that seeks to overhaul the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and address problems with the nation’s food supply.
Prior to that, more than 1,300 people were sickened when they ate raw serrano peppers that had been tainted with the rare Saintpaul strain of Salmonella. The FDA, which initially had implicated tomatoes in the outbreak, traced the peppers back to a farm in Mexico. —Two major foodservice industry groups have voiced concerns about an anticipated federal measure that seeks to overhaul the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and address problems with the nation’s food supply.
Late in 2006 bagged fresh baby spinach was linked to an E. coli outbreak that was blamed for the deaths of three people and illness in 200 others. —Two major foodservice industry groups have voiced concerns about an anticipated federal measure that seeks to overhaul the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and address problems with the nation’s food supply.
Proponents say the Waxman-Dingell draft, which combines provisions from other bills already offered by several top Democrats, would go a long way toward fixing the nation’s broken food-safety system. The Food Safety Enhancement Act would give the FDA the authority to force companies to recall potentially contaminated food and arm it with a wider range of criminal and civil penalties to punish food suppliers who knowingly sell tainted foods. —Two major foodservice industry groups have voiced concerns about an anticipated federal measure that seeks to overhaul the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and address problems with the nation’s food supply.
Margaret Hamburg, the FDA’s new commissioner, called it “a major step in the right direction,” but added that the agency would need more funding to carry it out. —Two major foodservice industry groups have voiced concerns about an anticipated federal measure that seeks to overhaul the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and address problems with the nation’s food supply.
However, the NRA and NCCR are concerned about several of the bill’s provisions, including its traceability and record-keeping requirements. Under the measure all restaurateurs would have to keep records of every shipment they received from suppliers. The records would have to be kept in an FDA-specified standardized electronic format and retained for three years. —Two major foodservice industry groups have voiced concerns about an anticipated federal measure that seeks to overhaul the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and address problems with the nation’s food supply.
Failure to comply would make an operator subject to civil penalties of $100,000 per violation per day, Vinson said. —Two major foodservice industry groups have voiced concerns about an anticipated federal measure that seeks to overhaul the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and address problems with the nation’s food supply.
“I’m not even sure every restaurant has a computer,” he said. —Two major foodservice industry groups have voiced concerns about an anticipated federal measure that seeks to overhaul the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and address problems with the nation’s food supply.
“This is a serious concern,” Johnson said. “Our industry is not set up to do that.” —Two major foodservice industry groups have voiced concerns about an anticipated federal measure that seeks to overhaul the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and address problems with the nation’s food supply.
The measure also would give the agency the power to inspect restaurants to ensure that they comply with record-keeping requirements, Vinson said. —Two major foodservice industry groups have voiced concerns about an anticipated federal measure that seeks to overhaul the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and address problems with the nation’s food supply.
Another concern with the discussion draft is its requirement that restaurateurs must report any potential issue with a food item within 24 hours of discovering a problem. Under the current rules, restaurants and farms are exempt. —Two major foodservice industry groups have voiced concerns about an anticipated federal measure that seeks to overhaul the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and address problems with the nation’s food supply.
Vinson also expressed concern about a section in the draft stating that any undisclosed allergen would be considered an “adulterant,” and any food that is “adulterated” would be considered to be a threat to public health. Any operator who knew or should have known that the food was adulterated would have to, within a certain period of learning of the adulteration, report it to the FDA via the Reportable Food Registry, or be subject to felony punishable up to 10 years in prison. —Two major foodservice industry groups have voiced concerns about an anticipated federal measure that seeks to overhaul the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and address problems with the nation’s food supply.
“It seems a stretch and perhaps unlikely to happen in practice, but…entirely within the realm of possibility,” he said. —Two major foodservice industry groups have voiced concerns about an anticipated federal measure that seeks to overhaul the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and address problems with the nation’s food supply.
The Center for Science in the Public Interest in Washington, D.C., is asking Congress to strengthen the Waxman-Dingell bill, while at the same time urging its passage, calling it “the best hope for making America’s food safer.” —Two major foodservice industry groups have voiced concerns about an anticipated federal measure that seeks to overhaul the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and address problems with the nation’s food supply.
The NRA previously had praised two other congressional measures introduced in 2009—the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009, sponsored by Sens. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., Judd Gregg, R-N.H., Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., and Richard Burr, R-N.C., in March; and the Safe Food Enforcement, Assessment, Standards and Targeting, or FEAST, Act. Sponsored by Reps. Jim Costa, D-Calif., and Adam Putnam, R-Fla., the bill was introduced in the House earlier this year. —Two major foodservice industry groups have voiced concerns about an anticipated federal measure that seeks to overhaul the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and address problems with the nation’s food supply.
Among other things, the House measure would ensure that imported food products would have to adhere to the same standards as set by the FDA and establish new standards for fruits and vegetables, including updating the Good Agricultural Practices Guidance for safe production. —Two major foodservice industry groups have voiced concerns about an anticipated federal measure that seeks to overhaul the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and address problems with the nation’s food supply.
The FEAST Act also would give the FDA authority to access food-safety production records during emergencies and deny importation of goods if strict food safety standards are not met. —Two major foodservice industry groups have voiced concerns about an anticipated federal measure that seeks to overhaul the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and address problems with the nation’s food supply.
The Senate bill would enable the FDA to increase the frequency of inspections at food facilities; give the agency expanded access to records and testing results; and allow it for the first time to recall dangerous food products if a company fails to recall a product at the FDA’s request. —Two major foodservice industry groups have voiced concerns about an anticipated federal measure that seeks to overhaul the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and address problems with the nation’s food supply.
The measure also seeks to boost funding for the agency’s food safety activities by increasing appropriations and imposing targeted fees for domestic and foreign facilities.— [email protected] —Two major foodservice industry groups have voiced concerns about an anticipated federal measure that seeks to overhaul the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and address problems with the nation’s food supply.