Gregg Bill Would Increase Power of FDA to Recall Tainted Food
FDA
The Keene Sentinel
Joe Vines
Boston University Washington News Service
October 7, 2008
WASHINGTON – Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., is likely to reintroduce legislation at the start of the next Congress that would expand the Food and Drug Administration’s authority to inspect the nation’s food supply and make it easier for the agency to recall contaminated food.
The bill, which Gregg’s spokesperson said the senator has been working on for some time, was first introduced in July in response to a salmonella outbreak in produce. The bill would increase funding for the FDA by instituting fees on domestic and international food suppliers
“When Americans go to the grocery store, the last thing on their mind should be the safety of the foods they are bringing home to serve their families,” Gregg said in a statement in July. “The recent salmonella outbreak highlights the current vulnerability of our food supply and the need to modernize our food safety laws.”
The bill would allow the FDA to recall any food item it deems dangerous when a company declines to do so voluntarily at FDA request. The bill would increase inspections at food plants across the country and establish a program that would easily track produce if testing was needed.
According to the statement by Gregg’s office, food safety experts say that had these provisions been in place, the FDA’s response to the outbreak could have been improved.
Dr. David Acheson, the FDA’s associate commissioner for foods, said that while the FDA continues to push for mandatory recall authority it would not have made a difference in this outbreak. “Following our discovery of contaminated jalapeno peppers at a distribution center in Texas, as soon as we alerted the distribution center, they were right on it and they initiated the recall immediately,” he said.
Nevertheless, Acheson said, the recall authority would be important because distributors can simply ignore FDA warnings and refuse to recall a product. He said the FDA published a food protection plan last November that specifically asked for mandatory recall authority. “We want that,” he said
Currently, the FDA can seize products it deems dangerous, but seizure orders are issued at the local level, so that if the contaminated product is housed in distribution centers across the country, the FDA has to issue separate seizure orders for each center through local courts, which can be time-consuming. Acheson said giving the FDA mandatory recall authority would allow the agency to issue blanket recall orders for the whole country. Currently, the FDA can issue a blanket mandatory recall only for baby formula.
“We don’t believe we would use mandatory recall authority very often,” Acheson said. “Virtually always, a firm, when they hear there’s a problem, want to do the right thing.”
He said that the FDA used a trace-back system to locate the source of the outbreak last summer, but that the process took too long. “Having a trace-back system, mandatory or otherwise, that is more efficient is definitely going to help,” Acheson said.
Since April, 1,438 people have been infected with food-borne salmonella, including six reported cases in New Hampshire, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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