The Senate Appropriations Committee approved the agriculture appropriations bill for fiscal year 2016 on Thursday after discussing a handful of amendments. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) proposed an amendment to increase the funding allocated for implementation of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), but it was ultimately voted down. This came after referencing the case of …
Senators Ask GAO to Examine Options for Food Safety Oversight
Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) have requested that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) study whether creating a single food agency would increase efficiencies, reduce costs and improve safety. In January, Durbin and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) introduced bills to establish such a single food safety agency…
Senators Want USDA to Finalize Poultry Pathogen Standards
Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Dick Durbin (D-IL), and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) are asking Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to finalize USDA’s Salmonella and Campylobacter performance standards as soon as possible. In January, USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service’s (FSIS) proposed changes to the Salmonella and Campylobacter Verification Testing Program created brand-new standards for Salmonella and Campylobacter…
FSIS Would Have Mandatory Recall Authority Under Proposed Bill
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) is proposing legislation that would require recalls of meat and poultry contaminated with pathogens. “As it stands now, if foods like ground beef and sliced turkey are found to be unsafe, the U.S. Department of Agriculture lacks the authority to issue a mandatory recall,” Gillibrand said. “As a result, it becomes…
Lawmakers Introduce Bills to Create Single Food Safety Agency
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) have introduced bills in Congress that would establish a single, independent federal food safety agency. 
Food safety oversight is currently split up among 15 agencies in the Departments of Health and Human Services, Agriculture, and Commerce. The Safe Food Act of 2015 introduced Wednesday in both…
FSIS Drafting Campylobacter Performance Standards for Chicken Parts
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is planning to release new safety standards for Campylobacter in poultry, in addition to the Salmonella performance standard already in the works. Both are expected to be finalized by the end of the current fiscal year. “The Agency is developing a performance standard for…
With E. Coli Close to Home, Durbin Blasts Proposed FDA Cuts
Just across the river from the epicenter of a mysterious E. coli outbreak, Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) warned that cuts to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) budget would be a step backward for food safety.
FDA is currently seeking a budget to fund its stepped up role under the Food Safety Modernization Act, …
Durbin Wants FDA to Regulate Food with Melatonin
The marketing of melatonin-laced brownies to children was a just a local issue last week, but not anymore.
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) Wednesday asked U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Margaret Hamburg to see if she has the authority “to oversee the safety of foods containing dietary supplement additives.”
“Products with names such as …
Time Growing Short for Vote on Food Safety Bill
After a year of legislative limbo, the future of the food safety bill in the Senate remains highly uncertain, as the work days left before the contentious midterm elections are dwindling.
Late Thursday, Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) again rejected a Democrat attempt at bringing the food safety bill to the floor for a vote. In …
S. 510 Stalls Behind Financial Reform
The food safety bill pending in the Senate has hit another speed bump. S. 510, the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, will not be brought to the floor next week, as was widely expected. Instead, the upper chamber will take up financial regulatory reform.
Not that S. 510 was going anywhere fast–the legislation has been …