01.27.15

Durbin, Delauro To Hold Press Call Announcing Bill To Create Single Food Safety Agency

Foodborne disease impacts 48 million Americans every year

[WASHINGTON, DC]. – U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) and U.S. Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) will hold a press conference call tomorrow at 1:00 PM CT / 2:00 PM ET announcing their bill to create a single food safety agency. Durbin and DeLauro previewed their bill in an op-ed last week. The Safe Food Act of 2015 would create a single, independent federal food safety agency.

Currently food safety oversight is split up among 15 different agencies, resulting in a patchwork where no single voice guides industry, retailers and consumers.

Durbin is the Senate’s Assistant Democratic Leader and a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee. DeLauro is a former chairwoman, and currently a senior member, of the subcommittee responsible for funding the United States Department of Agriculture, and the Food and Drug Administration.

The Government Accountability Office first named our fragmented food safety system to its biennial High Risk List in 2007, and it has made repeated appearances on the list since then. 

Who:               Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL)

                       Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT)

                       

What:              Press conference call to Announce Bill Creating Single Food Safety Agency

When:             Tomorrow, Wednesday, January 28, 2015

1:00 PM CT / 2:00 PM ET

Call-in:            (202) 228-0808 or (855) 428-0808

           

Passcode:       Please email christina_mulka@durbin.senate.gov