Health Law

Pork Producers Fight Against New Food Safety Bill

By Marler Clark

The National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) is waging a fight against food saftey refoms in the pending "Food Safety and Enhancement Act of 2009" according to Wisconsin Ag Connection.  The bill was recently approved by in subcommittee and will head next to a full comittee in the House. 

The NPPC claims to support efforts to strenghten U.S. food saftey, but then argue against virtually every aspect of the pending legislation that might apply to them.  For example, the NPPC argues against giving the FDA authority over production at the farm level.  This is despite a number of high profile outbreaks that suggest that contamination often occurs at that stage of the process, such as the 2006 Dole spinach E.coli O157:H7 outbreak. 

NPPC also argues against better tracking of food from "farm to fork."   This one is hard to understand as it provides significant protection to those in the industry as well as consumers.   Strong product traceback allows for the quick and accurate identification of potentially contaminated foods.  This limits outbreak illnesses and leaves producers of the non-implicated products out of the spotlight - and still putting products on the shelves.

The safety of the U.S. food supply will not improve with general well-wishes and "support" for reform.    The status quo was reached, in part, through industry's resistance to reform, and it is time to make a real change.

Full post as published by Food Poison Blog on June 15, 2009 (boomark / email).