April 11, 2010
“We’ve seen major recalls of peanut butter spiked with salmonella, spinach laced with e-coli and chili loaded with botulism,” Durbin said. “These are not isolated incidents. They are the result of an outdated, under-funded and overwhelmed food safety system. My bill will improve the FDA’s ability to prevent food-borne illness outbreaks and ensure that FDA responds quickly and effectively when outbreaks do occur.”
“Today, FDA is working within the constraints of outdated laws, inadequate staff, and not enough funding,” said Durbin. “The agency has been set up to react to outbreaks of contamination. My legislation would take the FDA to a new level by empowering the agency to prevent outbreaks. The bill gives FDA the resources and authority to quickly trace food borne illnesses back to their source. With those changes, we’ll be able to prevent millions of food-borne illnesses and thousands of deaths each year.”
The legislation addresses head-on some of the issues surrounding the recent product recalls by increasing the frequency of inspections at all food facilities; giving the FDA expanded access to records and testing results, and allowing the FDA to recall dangerous food products in the event a company fails to recall a product at the FDA’s request. Food safety experts note that had any of these provisions been in place, the scope of last year’s Salmonella outbreak could have been drastically reduced and the FDA’s response time, dramatically improved.
Each year, 76 million Americans get sick due to preventable food-borne illnesses—325,000 of those individuals are hospitalized and 5,000 die. Every five minutes, three people are rushed to the hospital because the food they ate made them sick and at the end of each day, 13 will die.
Durbin Pushes for Overhaul of Nation's Food Safety Laws
[CHICAGO, IL] – The ability of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to protect the safety of the nation’s food supply for American families will dramatically improve if Congress passes the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) said today. Durbin’s legislation, which has bi-partisan support, would give the FDA new authorities, tools and resources to comprehensively reform the nation’s food safety systems.“We’ve seen major recalls of peanut butter spiked with salmonella, spinach laced with e-coli and chili loaded with botulism,” Durbin said. “These are not isolated incidents. They are the result of an outdated, under-funded and overwhelmed food safety system. My bill will improve the FDA’s ability to prevent food-borne illness outbreaks and ensure that FDA responds quickly and effectively when outbreaks do occur.”
“Today, FDA is working within the constraints of outdated laws, inadequate staff, and not enough funding,” said Durbin. “The agency has been set up to react to outbreaks of contamination. My legislation would take the FDA to a new level by empowering the agency to prevent outbreaks. The bill gives FDA the resources and authority to quickly trace food borne illnesses back to their source. With those changes, we’ll be able to prevent millions of food-borne illnesses and thousands of deaths each year.”
The legislation addresses head-on some of the issues surrounding the recent product recalls by increasing the frequency of inspections at all food facilities; giving the FDA expanded access to records and testing results, and allowing the FDA to recall dangerous food products in the event a company fails to recall a product at the FDA’s request. Food safety experts note that had any of these provisions been in place, the scope of last year’s Salmonella outbreak could have been drastically reduced and the FDA’s response time, dramatically improved.
Each year, 76 million Americans get sick due to preventable food-borne illnesses—325,000 of those individuals are hospitalized and 5,000 die. Every five minutes, three people are rushed to the hospital because the food they ate made them sick and at the end of each day, 13 will die.