Food safetyFDA issues new food safety rules to fight contamination

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last Friday proposed two new rules  to prevent the contamination of processed food and produce. The rules are considered to be part of the food safety law that Congress passed two years ago.

The FDA monitors the safety of around 80 percent of the food eaten in the United States. The other 20 percent is monitored by the Department of Agriculture (USDA) which watches over meat, poultry, and eggs.

Congress passed the Food Safety Modernization Act in 2010 after a string of incidents involving tainted eggs, peanut butter, and which  sickened thousands of people. The illnesses led major food makers and consumer advocates to demand stricter government oversight.

The New York Times reports that the Obama administration took two years to move the rules through the FDA.

The first rule requires manufacturers of processed food sold in the United States to recognize, adopt, and use measures to reduce the threat of contamination. Companies will also have to create a plan for fixing any potential problems as well as keep records which FDA inspectors can review during an audit.

The second rule will require farmers to establish standards to ensure the purity of water used directly on plants and the water used to irrigate the soil.

One  way to comply with the rule would be for farms or plants where vegetables are grown and processed to add lavatories in order to ensure that workers do not urinate in the fields and for signs to be posted that workers must wash their hands after using the bathroom.

“These new rules really set the basic framework for a modern, science-based approach to food safety and shifts us from a strategy of reacting to problems to a strategy for preventing problems,” Michael  Taylor, deputy commissioner for foods and veterinary medicine at the FDA, told the New York Times.

One in six Americans are affected by contaminated food every year, according to government estimates. About  130,000 have to be hospitalized and 3,000 die.

The food industry has praised the new standards, but is also taking the time to see how the rules will affect it before making any public statements.

“Consumers expect industry and government to work together to provide Americans and consumers around the world with the safest possible products,” the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) said in a statement. “FSMA and its implementation effort can serve as a role model for what can be achieved when the private and public sectors work together to achieve a common goal.”

Food manufactures are likely to face new costs  to comply with the new standards. According to Dr. Margret Hamburg, commissioner of the FDA, the measures may save businesses money in the long run and many of the manufacturers that will be affected already take such precautions voluntarily.

“The produce industry and the food industry in general has implemented food safety programs in the past, so it will depend on what the FDA has come up with as far as new requirements,” Dr. David Gombas, senior vice president for food safety and technology at the United Fresh Produce Association, who had not yet read the new rules told the Times. “It may or may not add costs.”

The FDA will finalize the rules after a 120-day term for public comment. Food companies will have one year to comply with the rules and large farms will be given twenty-six months. Smaller business and farms will be given more time.

Other rules are also under consideration including making importers responsible for the safety of food  imported into the United States.