Keeping Our Food Supply Safe

Statement

As the father of three little girls, I want to be sure that the food they eat is safe. The recent national outbreak of salmonella poisoning highlights the urgent need to modernize how we monitor food safety here in the United States. This is about keeping our families healthy and our food supply secure.

This week we've learned from FDA reports that the two farms at the source of the outbreak have serious contamination issues- rodents and mice, abundant feces, and structural damage that allowed for wildlife access. These grave breaches of protocol were likely a key factor in contaminating the eggs.

It's clear that something needs to change. That's why I've renewed my call for Congress to pass the bipartisan food safety bill. We need to protect Colorado consumers by ensuring the food they feed their families comes from a safe environment and won't harm them.

The FDA Food Safety Modernization Act represents a major food-safety overhaul. It would increase the frequency of inspections, extend oversight to certain types of agricultural production, and mandate product recalls if not done voluntarily. It would also establish more scrutiny of food imports, and direct the FDA to create "performance standards", based on science, for the most significant food contaminants. The bill also contains amendments I've written to reduce the regulatory burden on small and mid-size farms and producers and ensure these important food safety reforms are flexible and recognize the unique needs of our family farms and ranches.

It's time to make sure that our families, and our food supply, are safe. I'll lead the fight on this until we make sure that our kids won't be harmed by the food they eat.

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