Food Safety Modernization Act
Food Chain Radio Show #1018
Michael Olson, Author & Urban Farming Agriculturalist
Food Safety Modernization Act
For whom will government make food safe?
Guest: Pete Kennedy, Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund
In response to large-scale contaminations of spinach, peanut butter and other foods that sickened and killed many across the land, the federal government passed the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2010 (FSMA).
Michael Olson Food Chain Radio: FDA Food Safety Modernization Act
In the years since, government and representatives from agriculture and food processing interests developed FSMA’s rules and regulations. Implementation of these rules and regulations now await the President’s approval.
When the “Go!” is given, the federal food police, under the direction of Food Safety Czar– and former Monsanto attorney– Michael Taylor, will strike out from Washington, D.C. to make the nation’s food safe.
While some point to the federal food police as the sure cure of food borne illnesses that sicken 48 million Americans every year, others see the food police as a way for powerful interests to restrict competition among the producers of the nation’s food.
These two ways of seeing the Food Safety Modernization Act lead us to ask…
Leave a comment below: For whom will the Food Safety Modernization Act make food safe?
Tune in here, for the syndicated Food Chain Radio Show #1018 June 20, 2015 Saturday 9AM Pacific
FSMA does not await the President’s approval as is stated above. The President’s approval was given in 2010 which initiated FSMA. Two of the 7 new rules are currently with OMB and final rules are due in August for these two regulations. A consumer group brought legal action against the FDA for not implementing these new regulations in a timely manner. The result is the FDA is now on a court ordered timeline to implement these new regulations. My opinion is the consumer will realize safer products that will result in increased cost. Complying with FSMA will require increased expenses for all involved.
According to a CDC study (http://www.cdc.gov/foodborneburden/attribution-1998-2008.html), most cases of foodborne illness are caused by norovirus which is transmitted by foodhandlers who are sick. Nearly half of illnesses and a quarter of deaths are caused by contaminated produce (because it it commonly eaten raw).
So mandatory paid sick leave for food workers might be the most efficient, cost-effective way to reduce foodborne illness. I don’t think the Food Safety Modernization Act addresses that.