Understanding the S 510 FDA Food Safety Modernization Act
May 12, 2010
Even though this act was introduced on March 3, 2009, the act has only passed the House. The only reason it has not seen any action for awhile is that there were other fish to fry such as health care, mortgages, and auto manufacturers for our government to take over. This act will not stay idle long as once it is passed, the government or the FDA will be in control of our food resources.
FDA Food Safety Modernization Act – “Amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA) to expand the authority of the Secretary of Health and Human Services (the Secretary) to regulate food, including by authorizing the Secretary to suspend the registration of a food facility. Requires each food facility to evaluate hazards and implement preventive controls. Directs the Secretary to assess and collect fees related to: (1) food facility reinspection; (2) food recalls; and (3) the voluntary qualified importer program. Requires the Secretary and the Secretary of Agriculture to prepare the National Agriculture and Food Defense Strategy. Requires the Secretary to: (1) identify preventive programs and practices to promote the safety and security of food; (2) promulgate regulations on sanitary food transportation practices; (3) develop a policy to manage the risk of food allergy and anaphylaxis in schools and early childhood education programs; (4) allocate inspection resources based on the risk profile of food facilities or food; (5) recognize bodies that accredit food testing laboratories; and (6) improve the capacity of the Secretary to track and trace raw agricultural commodities. Requires the Secretary, acting through the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), to enhance foodborne illness surveillance systems. Authorizes the Secretary to order an immediate cessation of distribution, or a recall, of food. Requires the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to assist state, local, and tribal governments in preparing for, assessing, decontaminating, and recovering from an agriculture or food emergency. Provides for: (1) foreign supplier verification activities; (2) a voluntary qualified importer program; and (3) the inspection of foreign facilities registered to import food.”
Okay, now to explain what the above means: Once this act passes the Senate (if it does) the new created Food Safety Association (FSA) will be the sole regulator of food safety and take away the rights of each state to regulate their food safety measures. This act will grant the FSA “the power to implement and administer a national system for regular unannounced inspection of food establishments under its own terms.
This allows the FSA to reclassify all farms as “food production facilities”. This means that small patch of tomatoes or your neighbor’s wheat farm will have to comply with the regulations and inspection protocols of the FSA and will have to comply with food safety requirements they see fit. Your small patch of tomatoes, if you plan to sell them at the farmer’s market or even give away could be regulated by the FSA.
The act will also require farmers to comply with minimum standards created by the FSA for all farming practices, which can include requiring all farmers to create Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point plans and other written credentials. This act will give the power to “arrogate preventative process controls to reduce adulteration of food” as they see fit. Along with this, the FSA will have the power to enforce food safety laws, to access civil fines and penalties for those not complying with all safety laws created by the FSA. The fines and penalties can be as much as $1 million per violation. The money received by the FSA for violations can be used to “carry out enforcement activities under the food safety law” as they deem necessary.
