Dive Summary:
- An amendment in the farm bill approved by the U.S. House of Representatives last week and headed to the Senate Tuesday would further delay the enactment of the Food Safety and Modernization Act by requiring the Food and Drug Administration to perform a "scientific and economic analysis" of its regulations.
- The rules are the largest overhaul of U.S. food safety regulations in 70 years and put in place a new set of guidelines for farmers and other food producers to follow in order to prevent food-borne illnesses, as opposed to focusing largely on response.
- President Obama signed the rules into law in January and food safety advocates have complained about the delay in their enactment, taking the administration to court in an attempt to speed up their process, and the FDA must now finalize the rules by a June 2015 deadline.
From the article:
... The House bill language, penned by Rep. Dan Benishek (R-Mich.), would further complicate enactment of the rules.
“This basically would slow the wheels of FSMA implementation by allowing another roadblock,” said Colin O’Neil, director of government affairs for the Center for Food Safety.
Sen. Tom Harkin (Iowa) is among the congressional Democrats who are critical of the provision, tweeting last week that the bill “would undermine critical food safety law — while food-borne illness affects 1 in 6/year.” ...
