SC Connecticut News

Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (CT-03) today reintroduced the Expanded Food Safety Investigation Act, legislation that would empower the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) with new authority to allow the investigation of corporate livestock feedlots and confinement operations implicated in foodborne illness outbreaks.

“It is clear that corporate consolidation has negatively impacted the safety of our nation’s food,” said Congresswoman DeLauro. “This is compounded by a weak and disempowered FDA, which has few tools to hold corporations accountable, investigate outbreaks, and get contaminated food off the market. Under current law, multinational corporations have the power to stop an FDA foodborne illness investigation in its tracks. That cannot stand. That is why I am reintroducing the Expanded Food Safety Investigation Act, which gives FDA the ability to investigate corporate agribusinesses and uphold its mission of protecting public health.”

Unfortunately, food in the United States is frequently unsafe. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), each year, roughly 1 in 6 Americans get sick, 128,000 are hospitalized, and 3,000 die from foodborne diseases.

 

Over the last several decades, consolidation in agriculture has decimated family farms and resulted in large, corporate-owned operations, whose lax safety practices and desire for profit over all else has negatively impacted the safety of our nation’s food.Antimicrobial resistance must be slowed, as we must preserve the effectiveness of microbials in fighting disease in animals and humans. A recent report from the World Health Organization revealed growing levels of resistance to antibiotics in humans and the need for urgent action to reverse this trend.

The legislation has been endorsed by a broad coalition of consumer and food groups, including Center for Science in the Public Interest, Consumer Reports, the Food Animal Concerns Trust, and the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition.

“When an outbreak of food poisoning occurs, investigators should have all the tools they need to find its source. This legislation provides an important new tool for that work by allowing investigators to test for microbes on farms, shedding light on how foodborne illness can move between animals, plants, and people.” Sarah Sorscher, Director of Regulatory Affairs, Center for Science in the Public Interest.

"We shouldn't have a food safety regulatory system that handcuffs investigators from tracing sources of outbreaks," said Brian Ronholm, Director of Food Policy for Consumer Reports. "This bill provides the FDA with a critical tool to fully investigate foodborne illness outbreaks and will help prevent people from getting sick."

"Almost 50 million people get sick from foodborne illness each year and much of this illness originates on giant livestock raising facilities. Yet, public health authorities have limited ability to investigate these operations when disease outbreaks occur. The Expanded Food Safety Investigation Act gives them this authority so they can determine what went wrong and identify ways to stop future outbreaks," said Steven Roach, Safe and Healthy Food Program Director at Food Animal Concerns Trust.

"The Expanded Food Safety Investigation Act of 2023 will improve how foodborne illnesses are tracked by enabling investigation of food safety issues on concentrated animal feeding operations. The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition supports risk-based and scale- appropriate food safety regulations, and is pleased to endorse this bill." Connor Kippe, Policy Specialist- Food Systems Integrity, National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition.

Issues: Food, Drug, and Medical Device Safety

Original source can be found here.