Federal Food Safety Law Proposed
November 1, 2007 The food safety debate heated up a notch in late September when Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) announced the Fresh Produce Safety Act, which would mandate growers and produce companies to follow certain food safety regulations. The Senator points to the E. coli outbreak with spinach from a year ago and other more recent food safety scares as the reason for the need of the legislation.
“Under the Fresh Produce Safety Act, FDA would have the authority to require produce companies to follow common-sense food safety guidelines,” Harkin said in a statement when the legislation was introduced. “Those guidelines currently are only voluntary. Now, obviously, it would be a waste of resources to require the same stringent controls for, say, apples that we would require for leafy green produce. That’s why my bill requires FDA to establish national standards tailored to specific types of produce and the particular risk factors arising from the way each is grown and handled. The legislation also requires stepped-up inspections of operations that grow and process fresh produce, such as spinach or lettuce.”
“The Florida tomato industry has pushed the state to inspect and regulate its products,” he said. “But this regional, patchwork approach is simply not adequate. We need a national program to ensure the safety of all fresh produce all across the country.”
The Harkin bill also includes a surveillance system to identify and stop the sources of fresh produce contamination and a research program to better understand and prevent contamination of produce. The legislation would require that imported produce be subject to the same standards as domestically grown produce.
Industry Response
In response, United Fresh Produce Association president Tom Stenzel praised Harkin’s food safety record and pointed out where the association agrees and disagrees with the proposed legislation.
“On first review, we see some elements of Senator Harkin’s bill that we believe could be useful steps, and others that may be well-intentioned but not productive in enhancing public health and safety,” he stated. “For example, we support greater FDA oversight in ensuring that strong Good Agricultural Practices are developed and applied to various commodities based on potential risk. In addition, we support the call for greater public education and research in the area of produce food safety, and a commitment that domestic and imported produce must meet the same safety standards regardless of point of origin.
“At the same time, some of the suggestions in the legislation are overly prescriptive, calling for on-farm management systems that would offer limited value in assuring food safety. We believe those are the types of issues and recommendations that are best determined in cooperation with scientists at USDA and FDA, rather than in legislation.”
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