Under current law, the U.S Food and Drug Administration does not have the authority to issue recalls when there is an outbreak in the food supply. It is widely agreed upon that the FDA is underfunded and understaffed. With the recent rash of outbreaks and deaths related to food borne illnesses, the failures of the nation’s food safety system has come under heavy scrutiny and criticism. While proposals to overhaul the FDA have been floating around Congress for decades, it is finally taking action.
H.R. 2749, the Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009, was passed by voice vote in the House Energy and Commerce Committee on June 17. The bill includes the following notable provisions:
- Requires food facilities (manufacturers, producers, packagers, handlers) to register with the FDA and pay an annual fee of $500 per facility. It puts a per company cap on fees at $175,000.
- This will only affect retail members that own and operate commissaries or other production type facilities such as dairies. These member companies are already likely registered with the FDA. Under this bill, they will have to register annually, follow the new requirements and pay the new fee.
- Requires food safety plans for food facilities.
- Implements a risk-based inspection schedule for food facilities.
- Grants FDA the authority to expand traceability systems for food facilities after comprehensive study and cost analysis.
- Reportable Food Registry: this requires facilities, restaurants and retail establishments to report “food incidents” in which there is a reasonable probability they will cause serious health consequences or death.
- NACS continues to work on this topic. Along with FMI and NRA,, we are close to exempting retail from this requirement. It’s duplicative and questionable as to how valuable information from retailers would be and at what cost.
- Outlines criminal and civil penalties.
NACS staff worked with industry associations (GMA, NRA, FMI) to successfully advocate for the following:
- Lowering registration fees from $2,000 to $500.
- Exemption for restaurants and retail establishments from traceability requirements.
- Lower civil penalties for individuals and companies that unknowingly violate food safety requirements.
- Flexibility in the requirements for reporting instances of “reportable food” to the Reportable Food Registry (RFR). Originally the only method of reporting was electronic- we changed that provision to give retailers without Internet access other ways to report incidents, i.e. a 1-800 number.
This was a relatively bipartisan effort and NACS worked with staff on both the Republican and the Democratic side. GMA has led the effort on this issue. While they negotiated the language and are in support of the bill, GMA believes that there is more work to be done to reach a final deal as does NACS.
This legislation will have widespread effects across the food service industry, most notably in the manufacturing and processing sectors. Retailers will potentially have a more stringent system to abide by, but ultimately reaching the goal of satisfying the consumer in the healthiest and safest manner.
NACS is continuing to work with the House to finalize provisions related to retailers and the new reporting requirements this bill might impose. The best outcome for the industry would be exemption from the Reportable Food Registry due to the duplicative nature of the language. However, NACS is simultaneously monitoring the new regulatory regime this legislation would impose on the entire food industry and distribution systems in this country. It will be an ongoing education effort on the part of associations, corporations and government to successfully make the food supply safer and ultimately give the consumer the best options.
H.R. 2749, the Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009, was passed by voice vote in the House Energy and Commerce Committee on June 17. It is not known when the full House will take up the bill. The Senate has not yet acted on companion legislation.