New Food Legislation
Legislators in the new administration are working on food laws. Here is a quick sample...
Calorie labeling: it looks like we have bipartisan support for national menu labeling. If passed, calories will have to be disclosed on menu boards of fast food and vending machine chains throughout the country - and not just in New York City and the few states that have passed their own laws. Lots of health organizations are backing this proposal.
Food safety: the House just passed its version of a bill that will overhaul some aspects of the present food safety system. This bill still has a long way to go but is a hopeful sign that Congress might actually do something to fix the FDA. What the bill does not do is deal with fixing the system. It exempts meat, poultry, and eggs under USDA jurisdiction.
Produce safety: The new head of the FDA, Margaret Hamburg, says her agency is going to put special efforts into ensuring the safety of high-risk produce. To do that, she will need Congress to pass laws that, among other things, give the FDA the authority to order recalls and a lot more money to carry out its work.
Organics: The U.S. and Canada have agreed to coordinate their organic standards, so foods certified organic in Canada can be sold here and vice versa. Let’s hope the most stringent standards prevail.
These are (somewhat) hopeful signs. Let’s hope Congress manages to keep at this and tries to get it right.
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Marion Nestle is Paulette Goddard Professor in the Department of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health and Professor of Sociology at New York University. Her degrees include a Ph.D. in molecular biology and an M.P.H. in public health nutrition, both from the University of California, Berkeley.
She is the author of Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health, Safe Food: Bacteria, Biotechnology, and Bioterrorism and What to Eat.
You can read her Food Politics blog here:
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PeytonO
The Food Safety Enhancement Act includes many measures that food safety experts have urged for years, including a requirement for food companies to conduct hazard analysis programs and to institute preventive control measures. It also would require the FDA to conduct more-frequent inspections of food processing facilities. While today FDA inspects food factories only about once every ten years, the Food Safety Enhancement Act would require inspections for high-risk facilities every six to 18 months and all facilities, including warehouses, every four years.
The bill also would give the FDA something that most consumers probably think the agency already has: the authority to order companies to recall potentially contaminated food. And it provides the FDA with a much broader range of criminal and civil penalties to punish unscrupulous processors who knowingly allow tainted foods onto supermarket shelves. for more information, visit this site: http://personalmoneystore.com/...
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