The American Feed Industry Association (AFIA) applauded the US Senate for passage of the US$1.4 billion, S. 510 Food Safety Modernization Act of 2010, enforcing tougher regulations mandated by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
More than a dozen companies lobbied Congress to pass the legislation, which would require FDA inspections of facilities with the highest risk of contaminating food once every three years. The measure would also allow the government to issue mandatory recalls instead of relying on private companies to do so voluntarily and includes provisions for officials to better trace food-borne illnesses to their source. The bill requires companies currently registered as “food producers” under the Bioterrorism Act to register with FDA and create written, risk-based hazard control programs (current feed industry Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMPs) are recognized as risk-based programs). The Senate version of the bill now moves to the US House, which approved its own version of food safety reform in July 2009.
“The Senate bill has been a long time coming,” said Joel G. Newman, AFIA president and chief executive. “But, the process has been bipartisan, inclusive and productive, ultimately yielding a good bill. We urge House leadership to accept the Senate bill as the most practical approach to improving US food safety and move it to President Obama’s desk before the lame duck congressional session ends."
