Durbin Food Safety Amendment Approved by Senate

Press Release

DURBIN FOOD SAFETY AMENDMENT APPROVED BY SENATE

Today the Senate passed, by a vote of 94-0, an amendment introduced by U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) that will strengthen the nation's food safety system. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), one of the federal agencies charged with safeguarding the U.S. food supply, has come under fire recently in the wake of nationwide recalls and quarantines of tainted pork, spinach, peanut butter and pet food.

Durbin's amendment establishes an early warning and notification system for human food, as well as pet food, establish fines for companies that don't promptly report contaminated products, improves inspections/monitoring of imports, and provides better, more uniform pet food safety standards. Durbin's amendment was accepted today as part of the FDA Reauthorization bill, S.1082, now on the Senate floor.

"With the passage of this amendment, we will make our nation's food safety system stronger on several fronts. We have strengthened regulation of imported food; instituted a better record keeping, tracking and inspection process for human and pet food; put in place an early warning system when outbreaks of contaminated food occur; set uniform standards for pet food; and instituted fines for companies that fail to report problems," said Durbin. "There is more work to be done to fix our food safety system, but today we have moved forward to address the growing concerns across our nation."

Durbin said that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) 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. With emerging pathogens, a population at high risk for food-borne illnesses and an increasing volume of food imports, these numbers cannot improve without decisive action.

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