Legislation includes provisions to protect U.S. against smuggled food
WASHINGTON, DC- At today’s executive session of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP), language from legislation introduced by U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) was included in the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act. The provisions, from Senator Casey’s EAT SAFE Act, add personnel to detect, track and remove smuggled food and call for the development and implementation of strategies to stop food from being smuggled into the United States.
“The EAT SAFE Act is designed to address a critical aspect of the food and agricultural import system - food smuggled into the United States,” said Senator Casey. “A grave threat of smuggled food and agricultural products comes from the companies, importers and individuals who circumvent U.S. inspection requirements or restrictions on imports of certain products from a particular country. These smuggled food and agriculture products present safety risks to our food, plants and animals and pose a threat to our Nation’s health, economy and security. I am grateful to Chairman Harkin for incorporating portions of my EAT SAFE Act in the bill.”
Senator Casey continued, “With passage of this bill out of the committee, we are on the right path toward taking positive action to better protect our nation’s food supply and modernizing the U.S. system of food inspection. I have been moved by the story of my constituent Pat Buck’s two-year-old grandson, Kevin Kowalcyk, who tragically died in 2001 from an infection of E. coli O157:H7 – the form of the E. coli bacterium most commonly linked to food borne illness.”
Senator Casey first introduced the Ending Agricultural Threats: Safeguarding America’s Food for Everyone, otherwise known as the EAT SAFE Act in 2007, along with Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA). The EAT SAFE Act addressed the problems of smuggled food and agriculture products which currently pose serious risks to our plants, animals and food and pose a threat to our nation’s health, economy and security.
The FDA Food Safety Modernization Act would place more emphasis on prevention of food borne illness and give the U.S. Food and Drug Administration new, modern authorities to address food safety problems. With the addition of Senator Casey’s provisions, it also covers smuggled food and contains language to include an increase of 150 food defense employees to detect, track and remove smuggled food.
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