Food safety bill signed into law

January 4, 2011

Consumers Union on Food Safety Bill Signed Into Law
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports magazine, praised the food safety bill that the President signed into law today.
Consumers Union has long advocated for overhauling the Depression-era laws that currently govern food safety. The bill, which won bipartisan support from Congress, will require more frequent inspections of food facilities and, for the first time, give the Food and Drug Administration the authority to order recalls of tainted food.
Jean Halloran, the director of food policy initiatives at Consumers Union, said, “It’s a great day for consumers. When common foods like spinach and peanut products have to be pulled from stores because people are dying, clearly, there’s a problem. This legislation will go a long way toward making our food safer.”
Ami Gadhia, policy counsel for Consumers Union, said, “When you look at the costs associated with tainted food, from medical costs to business costs to the loss of life, these reforms are a vast improvement over the status quo. This bill needs to be implemented and funded as quickly as possible to protect people from deadly outbreaks.”
Contact:
David Butler, 202-462-6262