Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009

FOOD SAFETY ENHANCEMENT ACT OF 2009 -- (House of Representatives - July 29, 2009)

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Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this bill and thank Chairman Waxman and Chairman Emeritus DINGELL for their hard work.

The bill begins a long task of rectifying decades of neglect by updating FDA's ancient tools and outdated mandates. It gives the FDA the means to deal with dangers imposed by a global food system and enhances the agency's ability to prevent food contamination.

It incorporates key provisions from legislation I introduced this year and moves the FDA to a risk-based inspection system. It requires the agency to inspect the highest-risk facilities once every 6 months to a year, rather than once a decade.

It enhances reporting requirements for companies and establishes performance standards for fighting food-based pathogens. Performance standards form the backbone for monitoring the effectiveness of process control systems and identifying the foods at greatest risk.

I continue to strongly believe that the best way to protect our food supply is to streamline the FDA into two separate agencies within Health and Human Services so that food and drug safety both get the full and comprehensive attention they deserve.

This bill is a strong, solid first step in creating a comprehensive food safety system that can protect American families from the many dangers of contaminated food. I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

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