The Hill News



Our country’s system of safeguards is good for American business as
 well as for the public’s health and the environment.  You would never 
know this, however, from reading the news out of Washington, which is 
dominated by reports on the antipathy to regulation of the business 
lobby and its Republican allies in Congress.



I was reminded of the more complex views of business toward regulation
 the other day when I dug up news reports on the salmonella outbreak in
 peanut products a little less than two years ago.  Nine people died
 and hundreds were sickened in the outbreak that was traced to
 contamination at a facility in Georgia of the Peanut Corporation of
 America. In his testimony before Congress, David Mackay, then president of the Kellogg Company, reported that the company recalled seven million
 cases of Keebler cookies and other peanut-based products, and revamped
 its internal controls.



He also asked th! e Federal government to play a greater role in food
 safety inspection.  He urged Congress to establish a single agency
 with responsibility for food safety, to undertake annual inspections 
of food processing plants that were particularly vulnerable to disease
 outbreaks, and to enact into law federal authority to recall food 
products directly (instead of relying on voluntary compliance). In 
short, he asked the federal government for more regulation. 
With the support of the Grocery Manufacturers of America, other 
interests Congress incorporated these and other reforms in the Food
 Safety and Modernization Act (FSMA) of 2010. Among the many 
provisions of the law are the beginnings of safeguards to protect 
against illnesses resulting from imported food.



Read more...