T97-42 Lawrence Bachorik (301) 827-6250 August 29, 1997 Consumer Hotline: (800) 532-4440 FDA PROPOSES LEGISLATION TO IMPROVE FOOD SAFETY The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services today unveiled legislative proposals to help strengthen the ability of the Food and Drug Administration to protect the public from unsafe and unwholesome food products. The following information will be useful for answering questions. The proposed bill, "The Food Safety Enforcement Enhancement Act of 1997," would give the FDA the authority to require the recall of food that presents a threat to the public health. It also would allow the FDA to levy civil monetary penalties for food-related violations of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. These legislative proposals track those pertaining to the safety of meat and poultry announced today by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Like the USDA, the FDA currently has no authority to require recalls of food products or to levy civil monetary penalties for food safety violations. Under both proposed bills, penalties could range up to $100,000 for each violation. Currently FDA's enforcement options against unsafe or mislabeled foods are limited to seeking injunctions or seizure orders against firms through the U.S. court system. Recalls are voluntary on the part of distributing firms and dependent upon their cooperation. In cases of uncooperative firms, FDA's only recourse is to seek injunctions or seizure orders and to issue publicity about the suspect products. Under the terms of the proposed legislation, FDA could order a firm to stop distributing a food product and require a recall. In January, President Clinton announced a food safety initiative designed to improve the system for detecting outbreaks of food borne illness, promote research on emerging pathogens such as E.coli 0157:H7 and Cyclospora, and better educate consumers and industry on safe food handling practices. The President's budget for Fiscal Year 1998 requested $24 million to fund FDA's portion of this food safety initiative, for which the Administration has requested a total appropriation of $43 million. The Department of Health and Human Services expects to send food safety legislation to Congress soon. ####
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