Democrats Propose Bill to Establish Food Safety Administration

U.S. congressional democrats are proposing a bill to establish a Food Safety Administration.

The bill, introduced by Rep. Rosa DeLauro (Conn.) and Sen. Richard Durbin (Ill.), proposes to transfer to the Food Safety Administration the food safety, labeling, inspection, and enforcement functions that, as of the day before the effective date of this Act, are performed by other federal agencies (which could be the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, for example). 

The bill's overall aim is "to protect the public health by preventing foodborne illness, ensuring the safety of food, improving research on contaminants leading to foodborne illness, and improving security of food from intentional contamination, and for other purposes." 

It also proposes an "integrated food safety research capability, utilizing internally-generated, scientifically and statistically valid studies, in cooperation with academic institutions and other scientific entities of the Federal and State governments and to achieve the continuous improvement of research on foodborne illness and contaminants."

Durbin and DeLauro have introduced similar legislation in 1999, 2004, 2005 and 2007.

Click here to view the entire bill.