The Food and Safety Enhancement Act of 2009, if passed as it now stands, will surely make people in the business of raising food animals consider that trite phrase once again.
THis is a short version of news release from NCBA in Beef Magazine Cow Calf Weekly email.
NCBA is urging the House Energy and Commerce Committee to address unresolved issues before moving the bill forward, as it would impose unintended (hopefully!) consequences on the meat industry which is regulated by USDA.
* The bill would authorize FDA to conduct on-farm inspections, undermining USDA's regulatory authority in ensuring the safety of meat and poultry products.
*..would require FDA to create a tracing system for the complete pedigree of all food, including meat which isn't regulated by the FDA, thus increasing burdensome production and technology costs.
*...give FDA authority to create farm safety standards, including manure use and animal control, whcih are outside of the expertise of FDA and already handled by other regulatory bodies.
*...grant FDA authority to quarantine a geographical area during a food health emergency. This would confuse and disrupt the strong food-emergency response effort between USDA, the Department of Homeland Security, and the states.
"The U.S. has the safest food supply in the world," says Kristina Butts, NCBA manager, legislative affairs. "Any changes to that system should be carefully considered to ensure they provide additional benefits without detracting from successful processes."
IMO, having one food safety guru and staff will result in a huge, expensive, unweildy and even less effective than the current system of FDA and USDA having different responsibilities and far different methods of achieving their goals.
Both need to be brought up to date (especially with technology and sound science) and managed with far less of common government inefficiency and more accountability.
mrj