Senate Health Committee Acts to Improve Food Safety

Food Safety Package Includes Merkley’s Provisions on Tracking Contaminated Food and Protect Organic Farming

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Washington, D.C. –Today the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee unanimously passed the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, which will now be sent to the floor for consideration by the full Senate.  The legislation will increase the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) ability to ensure the safety of our nation’s food supply.  Included in the bill are Merkley’s provisions to improve traceability of contaminated processed foods and protect the organic farming and sustainable agriculture industries.

“Parents should never have to worry whether the food they’re packing in their kids’ lunches or putting on the dinner table is safe to eat,” said Merkley.  “This is an important step forward in protecting our families from food-borne illnesses while, at the same time, making sure that our small farms and processors are not unnecessarily burdened by layers of regulation.”

The FDA Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009 will strengthen the FDA’s ability to protect the nation’s food supply by enacting comprehensive reforms to improve its capacity to detect and respond to contamination outbreaks, provide food safety training for small farmers and food processors, and enact strong preventive measures for food imports. 

Merkley’s provision to improve traceability of contaminated processed foods will require the FDA to conduct a pilot project to find the best method to trace contaminated processed food and report back to Congress with recommendations to improve food safety.

In addition, the legislation included provisions Merkley wrote to ensure that organic farmers are not subject to conflicting regulations that would harm their businesses.  Merkley pushed for the provisions in a recent letter to Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Chair Tom Harkin.  Read the entire letter here.