Sacramento Bee: "Costa's Bill Would Tighten Safety Rules for Imported Food"

Costa's bill would tighten safety rules for imported food

By Michael Doyle - mdoyle@mcclatchydc.comPublished 12:00 am PDT Thursday, April 24, 2008

WASHINGTON – Imported food would have to meet domestic U.S. safety standards under a bill Rep. Jim Costa, D-Fresno, introduced Wednesday.

Wading into a food fight that has long stymied other lawmakers, Costa and a Republican colleague offered a bill that they said would boost consumer confidence. At least in part, the legislation would lift other states to some food safety standards already imposed in Florida and California.

"We hope this will establish a gold standard for food safety, as well as a standard for our foreign food supplies," Costa said.

Speaking at a sparsely attended Capitol Hill news conference, Costa and Rep. Adam Putnam, R-Fla., described their 46-page bill as a "landmark" effort to rewrite food safety standards.

Costa is a member of the House Agriculture Committee. Putnam, a member of the extended House Republican leadership, is a rancher who represents a largely rural Florida district.

Backed by farm industry groups such as the Western Growers Association and the United Fresh Produce Association, the new bill vies for attention with a more aggressive effort introduced previously by other House Democrats. To some extent, Costa's bill could be construed as the food industry's negotiating stance.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee will discuss today a broader food safety bill introduced by committee Chairman Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich. That would impose a new $2,000 inspection fee on U.S. food-producing facilities, doubling the Food and Drug Administration's food safety budget.

The Grocery Manufacturers Association, which supports Costa's bill, contended that Dingell's bill imposes "unfair food taxes."

Both bills, and others seeking to regulate food safety, have been introduced in the wake of high-profile contamination scares. These include, most notably, Salinas Valley leafy greens found to be tainted by E. coli bacteria in late 2006. The tainted spinach was blamed for at least three deaths and more than 200 sicknesses nationwide.

In just this Congress, acronym-happy lawmakers have introduced bills crafted with names such as the Safe Food Act, Keeping America's Food Safe Act and the Ending Agricultural Threats: Safeguarding America's Food for Everyone (EAT SAFE) Act.

Food safety laws, though, have proved remarkably resistant to change. Costa himself noted that "the last time our food safety laws had major reforms, President Eisenhower was in office," and it is not clear how much momentum currently exists for action this year.

Among other provisions, Costa's bill would:

• Give the FDA the authority to recall adulterated food from the supply chain. Currently, the federal agency must rely on voluntary industry action.

• Require domestic and foreign companies selling food in the United States to conduct a safety risk analysis that identifies potential sources of contamination.

• Create a voluntary program that gives expedited access to imports considered not to have any meaningful food safety risk.

http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/885766.html