EINNEWS—November 12—Pressure is growing for action on food safety legislation during the lame duck congressional session scheduled to begin next week.
More than 100 organizations have signed on to efforts to place the bill on the Senate’s agenda during the brief legislative session.
The bill has passed the House and has been endorsed in modified form by a Senate committee. It’s lined up for floor action if it can squeeze onto a calendar where tax and other issues will need to be considered.
The measure was ready for a Senate vote earlier this year but was blocked by Oklahoma Republican Sen. Tom Coburn who questioned the cost and plans for paying for it.
The bill’s provisions would require regular inspections of high-risk food facilities such as the egg farms in Iowa which have been linked to recent salmonella outbreaks and health scares.
Consumer advocates and major food makers are nearly united in calling for passage.
Some small farmers are concerned that compliance with new regulations would be too costly and that food inspectors would unduly crack down on the smaller operations less able to defend themselves than big operators.
For more food safety news, visit Food Safety News Today (http://foodsafety.einnews.com), a food safety media monitoring service from EIN News.
