Baking & Snack - August 2009 - 14

14

NEWSFRONT
Food safety changes
take shape

The House of Representatives passed H.R.
2749, the Food Safety Enhancement Act,
on July 30. The bill was approved by a vote
of 283 to 142. It is anticipated the Senate
will address the issue in the fall, after the
summer recess.
"This reform means that commonsense updates will be put in place to reform our food safety system, which has
remained largely unchanged for a century," said Jeffrey Levi, executive director
of the Trust for Americas Health. "Americans have a right to expect their government will ensure the food safety system is
focused on fighting modern-day threats
and will prevent unnecessary illness. This
victory is a great start."
Key provisions included in H.R. 2749 include granting mandatory recall authority to the Food and
Drug Administration; requiring annual
registration with FDA by food processors,
importers and handlers; annual inspection
of food processing operations determined
to be high risk; and the creation of a traceability system that will allow inspectors to
trace a product's origin within two days
and improve national capacity for detecting the origins of foodborne illness.
Other changes still pending at FDA
include the creation of a new position,
deputy commissioner for foods. This is
among a range of changes and proposals detailed last month by the Food Safety
Working Group.

Other Suggested Improvements
* Create a unified incident
command system
* Strengthen the public health
epidemiology program
* Update emergency operations
procedures
* Improve state capacity
* Use new technologies to communicate critical food safety information
* Enhance the www.foodsafety.gov
Web site
BAKING & SNACK / August 2009

The group submitted three "general
principles" to the president that served as
the basis for a series of specific recommendations: Preventing harm to consumers is
the first priority; Effective foods safety inspections and enforcement depend upon
good data and analysis; and Outbreaks
of foodborne illness should be identified
quickly and stopped.
Elaborating on its recommendations,
the group said the FDA deputy commissioner for foods, reporting to the commissioner, "will be empowered to restructure
and revitalize FDA's activities and work
with the Food Safety and Inspection
Service (FSIS) of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA)."
The group said a new position at FSIS -
chief medical officer - will be created within three months. This position will report to
the undersecretary for food safety and "will
enhance USDA's commitment to preventing foodborne illness."
A considerable portion of the group's
recommendations related to specific steps
aimed at preventing Salmonella contamination and reducing the risk of E. coli.
Beyond the new positions at FDA and
FSIS, the group noted other steps needed to
make the federal government more effective in its food safety role.
The group said the Obama administration will continue to work with Congress
on legislation to give agencies the tools
they need to "keep food safe." Many of the
proposals already have been introduced
in legislation.
"These tools include the ability to require sanitation and preventive controls
at food facilities, based on a scientific
hazard analysis; the ability to access basic
food safety records at facilities; the ability
to use resources flexibly to target food
at the highest risk and achieve the maximum gain for public health; the ability to
establish performance stands to measure
the implementation of proper food safety
procedures; and mandatory recall authority," the group said.

ABA releases report
on food safety reform
The American Bakers Association (ABA)
released a white paper prior to the approved
changes to food safety legislation titled,
"Addressing Food Safety Issues and Concerns: The Bakers' Perspective."
"ABA is engaged with Congress and
the Obama administration in developing logical and balanced improvements to
the food safety system," said Len Heflich,
ABA Food Technical Regulator Affairs
Committee (FTRAC) chairman and vicepresident of quality systems at Bimbo Bakeries USA. "I commend members of FTRAC
for creating this thorough roadmap to better inform policy makers on what is viable in
the baking industry, and how industry and
government can effectively partner together
to improve food safety that builds upon current industry practices."
ABA's white paper focused on key elements of effective food safety in the global
environment, including the need to adequately fund FDA through direct appropriations, the desire to adopt a risk-based,
scientific approach to inspections and the
necessity to create a robust third-party certification system. Additionally, the report
recommended opposing a system that relies
on per facility registration fees, a proposal
brought forth in a recent congressional food
safety bill, as well as opposing unnecessary
country of origin labeling requirements.
The ABA paper also recommended steps
that can be taken for more effective and
efficient traceability.
"Per facility registration fees, as currently
envisioned, would dramatically, and disproportionally, impact the baking industry.
Low-risk distribution depots comprise approximately 90% of bakery facilities," said
Lee Sanders, senior vice-president of government relations and public affairs. "FDA
should appropriately focus its limited inspection resources on high risk foods and
facilities," she concluded.
"Food safety is the highest priority
for bakers - it is incorporated into every aspect of our members' daily operations," added Robb MacKie, ABA president and c.e.o. "Clearly, however, there
are steps that need to be taken to ensure
that American families have confidence
in the safe, wholesome and nutritious
products we produce."
http://www.foodsafety.gov
Baking & Snack - August 2009

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