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New Farm Bill Not Tough On Food Safety
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Published: June 11, 2008
WASHINGTON - Tainted tomatoes highlight how Congress forfeited some food-safety opportunities in the new farm bill.
A nationwide salmonella outbreak attributed to tomatoes comes just as Congress and President Bush are finishing their farm bill tug-of-war. The bill omits some of the food-safety proposals lawmakers once offered.
The national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 300,000 Americans are hospitalized each year, and 5,000 die, because of food-borne illnesses.
The Senate, for instance, originally wanted a new 15-member food-safety commission to conduct a wide-ranging study and issue recommendations. The proposed commission ran into opposition in the House of Representatives, and negotiators killed it.
On Thursday, a House Energy and Commerce Committee panel will hold a hearing on the FDA's food-safety work, with some House members pressing to give the federal agency mandatory-recall authority over tainted food.
McClatchy-Tribune
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