New rules Congress called for in the Food Safety Modernization Act — for preventive controls for food, animal feed, produce safety and food imports — should be passed without further delay by the Obama Administration.

So says the Consumer Federation of American (CFA), a coalition of 300 nonprofit consumer organizations.

In a statement, CFA said its members voted in annual meeting last week to support a resolution calling on the Obama Administration to issue the food safety rules because they’ve now been delayed for over two months.

“On behalf of CFA’s nearly 300 members, we urge the Administration to immediately issue these important food safety proposals,” said Chris Waldrop of CFA’s Food Policy Institute.  “The longer these proposals are delayed, the longer it will take to fulfill the promise of the Food Safety Modernization Act, which is intended to better protect consumers from foodborne illness.”

The four food safety rules are currently held up in the Executive Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which recently said it would take an undetermined amount of time to review the four proposed rules.

President Obama signed the FSMA into law on Jan. 4, 2011.  In November and December 2011, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) delivered the proposed rules to OMB.    Under the FSMA, rules implementing the new safety law were to be in place within one year of its enactment.

Waldrop says consumers are not protected when FDA’s rules are “stuck in review.”