Food Safety Bill Update

UPDATE on H.R. 2749, July 27, 2009


WASHINGTON - Today, Ranking Member Frank Lucas sent a letter to his colleagues in the U.S. House of Representatives urging them to not rush the Dingell-Waxman bill, H.R. 2749, through Congress. The bill is scheduled to be considered by the full House as early as tomorrow under suspension of the rules. This means that debate on this bill will be limited to twenty minutes, and there will be no opportunity to offer amendments.

"Our nation has the safest food supply in the world. Even so, we must continually examine our food production and regulatory system, and move forward with changes that improve food safety. But to do so without thoughtful and careful deliberation is simply irresponsible. H.R. 2749 is the result of a flawed and incomplete process. It will lead to huge regulatory burdens on our nation's farmers and ranchers, and it contains very little that will actually contribute to the goal of safer food.

"During a recent Committee hearing on the general topic of food safety, not a single producer witness would support this bill in its current form. Now Members of the House are being asked to vote on this bill without consideration, debate, or the opportunity to improve it. Worst yet, we haven't even seen the bill and we can't even obtain a copy of it.”

"For these reasons, I urge my colleagues to vote against rushing H.R. 2749 through Congress. I urge my colleagues to vote against H.R.
2749. Our nation's farmers, ranchers, packers, processors, retailers, and consumers deserve better," said Ranking Member Frank Lucas.


We at FoodTRACE urge caution and restraint as well in determining what your next steps regarding food safety, traceability and other cost areas that need to be addressed. Keep these FACTS in mind before committing dollars to the PTI initiative or any other programs that are being discussed.

1. Secretary of Health and Human Services stated on July 7, 2009 – “In the next 3 months, the Food and Drug Administration will issue draft guidance on steps the food industry can take to create tracing systems that will allow us to more quickly detect the sources of contamination and more quickly remove the unsafe food from store shelves. To hear her directly, go to http://usfoodtrace.blogspot.com/ and scroll down to the July 8 posting and watch a 1 minute 42 second clip where her statement as well as statements regarding food safety and traceability are also made by Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and Vice President Joe Biden.
2. IFT Report Due in September to the FDA. The FDA authorized IFT (Institute of Food Technologists) last September to analyze the various forms of traceability systems currently being used or in development. FoodTRACE® was one of those systems. The IFT was given one year to examine those systems and make their recommendations to the FDA this coming September. This ties in very well with the above comment made by Secretary Sebelius. The produce industry should NOT be jumping into anything, especially as costly as the PTI before understanding what the needs, requirements or at least guidance as stated is made.
3. FoodTRACE has not requested of any company to this point to sign on for our system although we are capable of accepting data and providing reporting options at this time. We firmly believe and continue to be proven by statements and actions in the industry and politically, that we are the best approach regarding traceability, and we go much further than the PTI regarding traceability at a fraction of the cost of overall implementation of the PTI option.