Food safety

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) entered the fray over food legislation on Friday with a "fact sheet" blaming Republicans for delaying passage of the bill.

"Republican opposition to tough food safety legislation is just another example of how the GOP’s plan for regulatory rollbacks puts the special interests first and Americans health and safety at risk," the statement reads.

The reality is more complicated.

While 122 Republicans did vote against the bill when it cleared the House in July 2009, so did 20 Democrats. And 54 Republicans voted for the bill, which would give the Food and Drug Administration the power to recall tainted food, quarantine geographical areas and access food producers’ records. 

In the Senate, only one member — Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) — held up the bill after members of the Health Committee reached a compromise this summer. A vote could occur as early as Nov. 17.

An amendment by Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) that would exempt small farmers is now seen as the biggest threat to the bill's passage in the upper chamber. Consumer advocates say the amendment would gut the bill, and have been pressing senators not to vote for it.

The Food and Drug Administration on Friday called on restaurants and food markets to hire food-safety managers to protect the public's health.

The recommendation is based on the findings of a 10-year study of retail establishments' efforts to reduce five key risk factors, released Friday. This comes as the nation is reeling from recent recalls of tainted eggs and peanut butter.

"In looking at the data, it is quite clear that having a certified food protection manager on the job makes a difference," FDA Deputy Commissioner for Foods Michael Taylor said in a statement. "Some states and localities require certified food protection managers already, and many in the retail industry employ them voluntarily as a matter of good practice. We think it should become common practice."

In addition to calling for certified food-protection managers to be common practice, Taylor said the FDA initiative will include:

• Increased efforts to encourage widespread, uniform and complete adoption of the FDA Model Food Code by state, local and tribal regulatory agencies that are responsible for retail food-safety standard setting and inspection. The Food Code recommends standards for management and personnel, food operations and equipment and facilities; and
• Increased efforts for adoption of FDA’s National Retail Food Regulatory Program Standards by state, local and tribal agencies that enforce the Food Code and other measures to create an enhanced local regulatory environment for retail food operations. 

Meanwhile, The Washington Post reported Friday that the voluntary quality-control system of independent inspectors who audit the nation's food producers is rife with conflicts of interest and is largely ineffective.

Even with Congress out of session, heated debate over pending food safety legislation continues.

Consumer advocates with the Make Our Food Safe coalition wrote to senators on Tuesday urging them to reject an amendment carving out small farmers. The advocates say they are "deeply concerned about [the] impact on the safety of the food supply" of the amendment sponsored by Sens. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) and Kay Hagan (D-N.C.).

"The exemptions in the Tester amendment are based only on the sales volume of the grower or processor ($500,000 in annual sales) and its geographic proximity (within 400 miles) to a qualified end-user (which can be a consumer, a grocery store or a restaurant)," the coalition said in a statement. "It does not take into consideration the risk to human health posed by a particular food item. As a result, high-risk foods would be exempt from safety regulations."

The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, which represents small farmers, responded Wednesday with its own statement.

"On the basis of a surprisingly inaccurate analysis of what the Tester-Hagan amendment proposes to do, the organizations behind the letter to Senators reach a conclusion in opposition to the amendment," said Ferd Hoefner, NSAC’s policy director. "Our strong hope is once they look at the actual details of the amendment they will change their position. The sooner they remove this damaging new roadblock to passage of the Food Safety Modernization Act in the short time left in this session of Congress the better."

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) filed for cloture on the bill before recess. A vote could happen as early as Nov. 17.

The legislation would give the Food and Drug Administration the power to recall tainted food, quarantine geographical areas and access food producers’ records. It was expected to pass by unanimous consent before recess after Democrats and Republicans on the Health Committee worked out a compromise, but Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) objected.

The House passed its version of food safety legislation in July 2009.

The Food and Drug Administration has allowed an Iowa farm involved in the largest egg recall in the nation's recent history to resume distribution.

Hillandale Farms and Wright County Egg launched voluntary recalls in August because of concerns that their eggs could be tainted with salmonella. No one is believed to have died as a result of the contamination, but hundreds of people have gotten sick.

In a letter to Hillandale Farms plant manager Gary Barness, the FDA writes that "FDA finds your corrective actions to be adequate." The farm will hold off on shipping eggs from four hen houses that tested positive for salmonella until they clear four rounds of egg testing.

About 7.6 million Americans — or 2.6 percent of the country — suffer from food allergies, the National Institute of Health (NIH) reported Monday, noting that age, gender and ethnicity all seem to play a role.

Black male kids are 4.4 times more likely than the general population to have a food allergy, the researchers found, though the factors behind the discrepancy are not yet clear. 

Researchers also reported a link between food allergies and asthma attacks, finding that asthma patients with food allergies were almost seven times more likely to have a severe asthma attack than those without food allergies.

"This study provides further credence that food allergies may be contributing to severe asthma episodes, and suggests that people with a food allergy and asthma should closely monitor both conditions and be aware that they might be related," Andrew Liu, a researcher at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and lead author on the paper, said in a statement. 

Among the findings: 

• Children aged one to five showed the highest food allergy rates (4.2 percent). 

• Adults over the age of 60 had the lowest rates (1.3 percent).  

• Peanut allergies were found in 1.8 percent of kids aged one to five, and in 2.7 percent of kids between six and 19.

Calling the review process flawed, a long list of Democrats from both the House and Senate are calling on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to reject a Massachusetts company's bid to bring a genetically modified salmon to the market. 

The lawmakers say the FDA is evaluating the fish as if it were a new drug, not a new animal.  

"The FDA approval process is inadequate and sets a dangerous precedent: the environmental review is flawed, and the consumer’s right to know is ignored," a group of 20 House Democrats — led by Reps. Dennis Kucinich (Ohio), Peter DeFazio (Ore.) and Mike Thompson (Calif.) — wrote Tuesday to FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg. 

"Rather than developing an appropriate evaluation method, the FDA is currently proceeding to approve the [genetically engineered] fish using its process for reviewing a new drug meant for animals."

A similar message is coming from the Senate, where 11 Democrats penned a separate letter to Hamburg Tuesday, arguing that information withheld from the public as proprietary prevents consumers from knowing fully the potential health effects of eating the product.

"Critical information has been kept from the public and consequently, only FDA and [the company] know important details about the approval process," wrote the lawmakers, led by Sen. Mark Begich (D-Alaska). 

The senators have asked Hamburg to "halt all proceedings" related to the approval process. 

FDA officials met last week to decide whether AquaBounty Technologies’ should be permitted to sell its genetically modified Atlantic salmon, which has been outfitted with a growth hormone gene from a Chinook salmon and an antifreeze gene from an ocean pout. The genes allow the new creation — dubbed the AquAdvantage salmon — to grow about twice as fast as its natural cousin. 

If approved, it would be the first genetically modified animal allowed to be sold as food.  

The agency is also weighing whether to force the company to label its salmon as genetically engineered.

The Democrats endorsing the House letter include Reps. Earl Blumenauer (Ore.), George Miller (Calif.), Sam Farr (Calif.), John Garamendi (Calif.), Raúl Grijalva (Ariz.), Maurice Hinchey (N.Y.), Barbara Lee (Calif.), Betty McCollum (Minn.), Dennis Moore (Kan.), Jim Moran (Va.), Jerrold Nadler (N.Y.), Jackie Speier (Calif.), Peter Welch (Vt.), Lynn Woolsey (Calif.), David Wu (Ore.), Madeleine Bordallo (Guam) and Donna Christensen (V.I.).

Lawmakers signing the upper-chamber letter were Democratic Sens. Patty Murray (Wash.), Bernie Sanders (Vt.), Maria Cantwell (Wash.), Ron Wyden (Ore.), Patrick Leahy (Vt.), Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.), Barbara Mikulski (Md.), Jeff Merkley (Ore.), and Jon Tester (Mont.). 

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) also endorsed the letter.  

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) want Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to "clarify" comments he made about their bill.

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) again delayed passage of food safety legislation on Wednesday but offered his own, paid-for alternative.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) had asked for unanimous consent on a bipartisan agreement worked out by the Senate HELP Committee, incorporating amendments exempting small farmers and restrictions on the use of the Bisphenol-A chemical in food and beverage containers. Coburn objected but said he'd approve an alternative that appropriates rather than authorizes money for the bill and does not include the Bisphenol-A restrictions, sponsored by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.)

Reid said he'd think about it.

"Because this is something I had not anticipated," Reid said on the floor, "I will withdraw my [unanimous consent] request and I will renew it at a later time if I can come to something that's more appropriate."

A Senate Democratic staffer said Reid is unlikely to agree since the underlying bill was worked out between the two parties. If the Senate can't pass food safety by unanimous consent, it's unlikely to have time to come to the floor for debate before the mid-term elections.

The legislation would give FDA the power to recall tainted food, quarantine geographical areas and access food producers’ records. The House passed its version of food safety in July 2009.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Tuesday offered to allow Sen. Tom Coburn to offer an amendment to pending food-safety legislation, but the Oklahoma Republican turned him down.

"If the Majority Leader wants the bill to advance he should pay for it," Coburn spokesman John Hart said. "Dr. Coburn isn't responsible for the Majority Leader's failure to write offsets into the base bill."

The legislation would give FDA the power to recall tainted food, quarantine geographical areas and access food producers’ records.

Coburn has been holding up the bill out of concerns over its $1.4 billion price tag over five years, not including $230 million directly offset by new fees. In the absence of guaranteed future appropriations, Coburn writes on his Web site, "at best we are just passing it for a press release, and at worse, we shackle the FDA with unfunded mandates."

Reid on Tuesday asked for unanimous consent allowing that, after consultation with the Republican leader, the Senate take up the bill with only three amendments in order: 

- An amendment by Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) exempting small farms; 

- Sen. Dianne Feinstein's (D-Calif.) amendment restricting the use of the Bisphenol A chemical; 

- A Coburn amendment regarding "offset for cost of bill."

The Senate health committee released a bipartisan food-safety manager's amendment during the first week of the August recess. The House passed its bill in July 2009.

Rep. Dennis Kucinich this month is urging the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to delay a verdict on whether to allow genetically engineered (GE) salmon to hit the market.

The Ohio Democrat, who chairs the House Oversight Committee's domestic policy subpanel, says the current process simply doesn't allow enough time for the public to weigh in.

"Given the magnitude of interest and concern expressed by the public on issues of food safety, food labeling and the environmental impact of GE animals, it is clear that serious and irreversible damage will result if public comment is curtailed," Kucinich wrote earlier this month to FDA Deputy Commissioner Joshua Sharfstein.

The FDA is meeting Monday and Tuesday to decide whether a Massachusetts-based company should be permitted to sell its genetically modified Atlantic salmon, which grows about twice as fast as its wild cousin. If approved, it would be the first genetically modified animal allowed to be sold as food. 

The agency is also weighing whether to force the company to label its salmon as genetically engineered.

Kucinich is sponsor of legislation requiring consumer-friendly labeling when food has been genetically modified.