[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 150 (Wednesday, November 17, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7917-S7921]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   FDA FOOD SAFETY MODERNIZATION ACT

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I know my colleague, Senator Harkin, will 
be on the floor momentarily to speak about the Food Safety 
Modernization Act. I wish to preface my remarks by thanking him 
personally. Tom Harkin has been not only a great colleague and friend, 
he has been such an exceptional leader when it comes to this important 
issue. It is no surprise for those of us who know Tom Harkin's 
congressional and Senate career. He has always been an extraordinary 
leader.
  The Americans with Disabilities Act, which literally has changed the 
face of America and opened doors for the disabled across our Nation, is 
not only one of the most dramatic steps forward when it comes to human 
rights and civil rights in my time, it was led by Senator Tom Harkin of 
Iowa and Senator Robert Dole, Republican of Kansas, who then served in 
the Senate.
  So Tom Harkin has been our conscience and our leader when it comes to 
issues involving safety, human rights, and expanding the reach of 
freedom in our Nation to those who otherwise might have been denied.
  I will tell you why I am passionate about the food safety issue. It 
goes back to a note I received as a Congressman. It was almost 16 years 
ago. It was a note from a woman who did not live in my congressional 
district. She was from Chicago and I was 200 miles away. Her name was 
Nancy Donley, and she told the story of her 5- or 6-year-old son Alex. 
She brought some hamburger home from the local grocery store to fix it 
for her son. She made his dinner. He ate it, and then he got sick, 
terribly sick. In a matter of a few hours, he was at the hospital, and 
in a matter of a few days he had passed away.
  He was a victim of E. coli. Trust me, his mom would never have done 
anything to harm him, and she thought she was doing the right thing to 
cook his meal and bring it to him at the dinner table. Unfortunately, 
that family decision, which is made millions of times across America 
every single day, was a fatal decision.
  Nancy Donley--heart broken, her life shattered by the loss of that 
little boy she loved so much--could have shrunk away in despair and 
anger over what had happened but did not. She made it her passion and 
her crusade to gather others like her in behalf of the cause of food 
safety. She started an organization called Safe Tables Our Priority--or 
STOP--and started lobbying Members of Congress, even a Congressman 200 
miles away, to do what they could to make our laws stronger and better 
across America.
  I have kept in touch with Nancy. It has been over 16 years. We are 
close friends now. I have to tell you that in my pantheon of heroes, 
Nancy Donley is right up there for what she has done with her life. If 
we are fortunate enough today and successful in passing this bill--at 
least moving it forward procedurally--I wish to say I am doing that in 
her name and in the memory of her son Alex and the thousands, tens of 
thousands, maybe even more, across America who are victims of 
contaminated food.
  For some people, it is just a simple case of indigestion or diarrhea 
that goes away after a few days. It may be mistaken for the flu. For 
others, it gets more serious. The number of Americans who die or become 
severely ill due to preventible foodborne illness is unacceptably high, 
and it has been that way for a long time.
  Every year, 76 million Americans suffer from preventable foodborne 
illness. Mr. President, 325,000 of our family members, friends, and 
neighbors are hospitalized each year because of food contamination and 
5,000 die--100 a week. That means that every 5 minutes 3 people are 
rushed to the hospital because the food they ate made them sick, and at 
the end of the day 13 will die.
  Throughout the debate on this bill, I have shared the heartbreaking 
stories of victims such as Alex Donley and his family. Some of these 
victims who were courageous enough to share their stories will suffer 
chronic symptoms that do not go away for a long time, if ever. The 
victims who have died would have wished they were lucky enough to be 
alive, even with these long-term illnesses.
  Today, as we vote to move to this bill, I will be thinking about how 
much it means to so many of us. I talked about Nancy Donley and her son 
Alex. They are not the only ones. There are people all across America 
who understand, when they go shopping at the food store and buy 
groceries or buy produce, there is a sort of built-in assumption it is 
safe. Would our government let things be put on the shelves in a store 
that have not been inspected, that are not safe?
  Most people assume that if the government is doing its job like it is 
supposed to, they should not have to worry about those things. Well, to 
a great extent, they are right. We have extraordinary resources in the 
Federal Government dedicated toward food safety. But the simple fact 
is, there are wide gaps when it comes to food safety in America, and 
those gaps need to be closed by this bill.
  The vast majority of Americans understand this. According to a recent 
poll commissioned by Pew, 89 percent of Americans want us to modernize 
our food safety system. Thanks to the leadership of Senator Harkin and 
Senator Enzi, our Republican colleague, our food safety bill passed the 
Health, Education and Labor Committee unanimously more than a year ago.
  This bill has substantial bipartisan support. Twenty Republican and 
Democratic Senators are already committed to it. It is supported by a 
broad group of consumer protection interests, including those at the 
Grocery Manufacturers Association and those at the

[[Page S7918]]

Food Marketing Institute and other places that actually market the 
products and are willing to accept the new legal burdens of this bill 
in order to give their customers peace of mind in terms of what they 
are going to buy and consume.
  The FDA Food Safety Modernization Act will provide the FDA with the 
authority it needs to prevent, detect, and respond to food safety 
problems.
  The bill will increase the frequency of inspection at all foreign and 
domestic food facilities according to the risk they present.
  One of the issues we have to be aware of is that a global economy 
means food is moving across borders more frequently. It is rare that we 
have the resources in place in some foreign country to make sure what 
is in that can or in that package is safely prepared. This bill moves 
us toward this goal. We pick the things that are the most dangerous 
when it comes to food imports and say they will be the highest 
priority; we will start the inspection now on food imports coming into 
the United States. The FDA doesn't currently have the resources or 
statutory mandate to inspect more frequently, and what they do inspect 
in terms of imports is very limited. We expand that to the most high-
risk, dangerous food products that might come in.
  Most facilities are inspected by the Food and Drug Administration, 
though only once every 10 years. Think about it. The U.S. Department of 
Agriculture is in place every single day at meat and poultry and 
production facilities with the inspectors in place to do the job. When 
it comes to the FDA, an agency with such a broad responsibility--in 
fact, much broader: 1 inspection every 10 years--if it is your son or 
daughter, your baby, someone you love, is that enough? I don't think it 
is. This bill significantly increases the frequency of inspections at 
all domestic and foreign food production facilities according to the 
risks they present. The bill gives the Food and Drug Administration 
long overdue authority to conduct mandatory recalls of contaminated 
food.
  It is hard to believe today, but if we know something is contaminated 
and has been sent out to the grocery shelves across America, our 
government has no legal authority to say: Bring it in. The best we can 
do is advertise the fact that it is dangerous and hope that the 
manufacturer, the distributor, and the ultimate retailer will get the 
message and move on it and do the right thing. It is voluntary. It is 
not mandatory, even if we know that something is dangerous. This bill 
gives that authority to the Food and Drug Administration. That means 
that if a company refuses to recall contaminated food, the most 
expedient action the FDA can take is to issue a press release right 
away, and we have to get beyond that. We have to give them authority. 
Many companies do cooperate with the FDA, and I salute them. It is not 
only the sensible thing to do; it certainly maintains the 
representation of them as food producers.
  Some, such as the Peanut Corporation of America, which distributed 
thousands of pounds of peanuts and peanut paste contaminated with 
salmonella, didn't fully or quickly recall food that made people sick. 
The Food Safety Modernization Act is going to change that by ensuring 
the FDA can compel a company to recall food that can cause serious 
adverse health consequences or death.
  Experts agree that individual businesses are in the best position to 
identify and prevent food safety hazards at their own facilities. The 
people who run a facility know where the vulnerabilities are on the 
assembly line and they know which hazards their foods are most 
susceptible to. That is why our bill requires each business to identify 
the food safety hazards at each of its locations and then implement a 
plan that addresses those hazards and keeps the food safe and free of 
contamination. The bill gives the FDA the authority to review and 
evaluate these food safety hazard prevention plans and hold companies 
accountable.
  I see the chairman of the committee on the floor and I will end in a 
moment.
  Finally, our bill gives the FDA the authority to prevent contaminated 
food from other countries from entering the United States. If a foreign 
facility refuses U.S. food safety inspection, the FDA has the authority 
to deny entry to their imports. Think about that. This is now going to 
be put into the law that if you are producing food overseas and you 
will not allow us to inspect your facility, we can stop exports to the 
United States. Is there any Member of the Senate, any family, who 
doesn't think that is a good idea? That is what this bill is all about.
  I wish to thank Senator Harkin for his extraordinary leadership on 
this bill. I can't tell my colleagues how many times we have come 
together, Democrats and Republicans, trying to work out differences. We 
are very close. I think there is one item of disagreement going into 
it. That is pretty good for Senate work--only one item of disagreement.
  I say to my friends: Bring this bill to the floor. Let's vote on that 
particular item--Senator Tester's concern--up or down. Let's do it. But 
let's not go another day without providing the protection families 
across America expect and deserve when they buy food. Let's do this on 
behalf of Nancy Donley and moms and dads all across America who ran the 
risk and, in her case, went through the bitter experience of losing her 
little 6-year-old boy Alex because of contaminated food. This is 
something that should be totally nonpartisan.
  I urge my colleagues: Let's give a strong vote today to move forward 
on this important bill and help ensure that the food on America's 
tables is safe.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Texas is 
recognized.
  Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I intend to defer to Senator Harkin for I 
understand 15 minutes. I wish to offer a brief unanimous-consent 
request that following Senator Harkin's speech for up to 15 minutes I 
be recognized for 5 minutes, and that any remaining time on our side be 
reserved for Senator Enzi, the Senator from Wyoming.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Is there objection?
  Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. CORNYN. I thank the Chair.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Iowa is 
recognized.
  Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Texas for 
yielding.
  I wish to thank Senator Durbin for all the work he has done on food 
safety for so many years. He has been a leader. He has prompted us and 
prodded us to get to this point, and we have a good bipartisan bill. I 
wish to take a few moments to talk about it before the vote that will 
be coming up in the next hour.
  The aim of the Food Safety Modernization Act, as it is called, is 
very simply to bring our Nation's antiquated and increasingly 
inadequate inspection service into the 21st century. This bill takes a 
comprehensive approach to reforming the current system. I am pleased to 
report that this bill is a product of strong bipartisan collaboration 
on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. Again, I wish 
to particularly thank Senator Durbin and Senator Gregg who have worked 
together over many years to produce this excellent bill. I also wish to 
thank our ranking member, Senator Enzi, for his leadership in helping 
to bring this bill to the floor, as well as to my good friend Senator 
Dodd who has been working on this bill also from the beginning and 
adding his expertise, especially on food allergies. I also thank 
Senator Burr, who has been personally involved in this entire process.

  Senators often speak about the importance of addressing kitchen table 
issues here in the Senate--the practical, everyday concerns of working 
Americans and their families. Well, food safety is a kitchen table 
issue and it couldn't be more urgent or overdue. It is shocking to 
think that the last comprehensive overhaul of our food safety system 
was in 1938, more than seven decades ago. Think about how our food 
system has changed in those 70 years. On the whole, Americans enjoy 
safe and wholesome food. We know that. But the problem is that ``on the 
whole'' is not good enough any longer.
  As my colleagues can see from our first chart, they will see that 
recent foodborne illnesses have been wide in scope and have had a 
devastating impact on public health. When people get

[[Page S7919]]

sick from eating bagged spinach, we have a problem. When kids take 
their peanut butter sandwiches to school and they get sick from it and 
go to the hospital, we have a problem. We had 90 deaths and 690 
reported cases in 46 States. We have found salmonella in tomatoes, in 
peppers, and even in cookie dough. When families eat cookie dough and 
they are getting E. coli, we have a problem. Recently, of course, we 
had the salmonella outbreak in eggs. So it is widespread. It is not 
just in bagged spinach or eggs, it is in peanut butter, cantaloupes, 
tomatoes. It is widespread. So we know we have a real problem.
  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that 
foodborne illnesses cause an estimated 76 million illnesses a year; 325 
Americans every year are hospitalized because of foodborne illnesses; 
and 5,000 Americans die every year due to a foodborne illness. These 
are not my figures. These figures are from the Centers for Disease 
Control and Prevention. According to a Georgetown University study, the 
cost to our society is about $152 billion a year in medical expenses, 
lost productivity, and disability. So the numbers are staggering, not 
only the number of people who get sick, but the number of people who 
die and the cost to our society.
  I checked in my own State of Iowa, and the cost alone in Iowa--we 
have over 800,000 cases every year. Each Iowan has to spend about 
$1,800 in annual health-related expenses, and about $1.5 billion in 
total related costs. My colleagues can look at their States and see the 
impact. So these are intolerable, but somehow we tolerate them. No 
longer can we do that. Our current regulatory system is broken. It does 
not adequately protect Americans from serious widespread foodborne 
illnesses.
  Our meals have grown more complex with more varied ingredients and 
more diverse methods of preparation and shipping. By the time raw 
agricultural products find a way to our dinner plates, multiple 
intermediate steps and processes have taken place. Food ingredients 
travel thousands of miles or, as Senator Durbin said, from other 
countries to factories here and then to our tables. They are 
intermingled and mixed along the way. Yet, despite all of these 
changes, our food safety laws have not changed in 70 years.
  What we need to do for starters is improve processes to prevent the 
contamination of foods and methods to provide safe foods to consumers. 
To achieve this, more testing and better methods of tracking food can 
be utilized and verified that the processes are working.
  Here are some interesting figures. Thirty years ago, we had 70,000 
food processors in this country. The FDA made 35,000 visits a year. So 
we had 70,000 food processors and we made 35,000 visits a year. Today, 
a full decade into the 21st century, we have 150,000 food processors--
over twice as many--but today FDA inspectors make 6,700 visits each 
year, one-fifth as many as they did 30 years ago, with twice as many 
plants. So is it any surprise we are getting more and more foodborne 
illnesses throughout this country? Referencing what Senator Durbin said 
earlier, more and more of our food is coming from other countries. All 
we are saying in our bill is you have to adopt the same kind of food 
safety processes and prevention methods that we have in this country to 
be able to ship your food in. I don't think that is unreasonable, to 
say that their processes and their safety procedures have to be at 
least the same as ours or as adequate as ours.
  As this chart shows, our bill overhauls our food safety system in 
four critical ways. First is prevention. We have had some success in 
our Agriculture Committee in the past on what is called a program of 
finding out where are the points where contamination can come in and 
then address those points in a preventive manner. Well, we are now kind 
of extending that beyond meat and poultry to all food to get the 
prevention in place. We improve the detection and response to foodborne 
illness outbreaks with better detection services and better response 
times. We have a mandatory recall in here that the Department has never 
had, ever. We enhance the U.S. food defense capabilities, and we 
increase the FDA resources in order to take care of this.
  This bill today will dramatically increase FDA inspections at all 
food facilities. It will give FDA the following new authorities: It 
will require all food facilities to have, as I said, preventive plans 
in place, and the FDA can have access to those plans. So they have to 
have preventive plans that the FDA gets access to. We have better 
access to records in case of a food emergency to try to find out what 
happened. It requires, as Senator Durbin said, importers to verify the 
safety of imported food. It strengthens our surveillance systems. It 
requires the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services 
to establish a pilot project to test and evaluate new methods for 
rapidly tracking foods in the event of a foodborne illness outbreak. As 
I said, it gives the FDA the authority to order a mandatory recall of 
food. A lot of people don't know this: If there is an outbreak of 
illness because of foodborne diseases, pathogens, FDA does not have the 
authority to recall that food.
  You might say that the companies do that. Well, they do. Most of them 
see it in their best economic interest to do that. But you might have 
fly-by-night operators out there that will take the money and run. You 
might have some foreign-based companies--and I don't mean to pick on 
them--that are offshore and they may have some food in this country 
that has caused foodborne illnesses, and they may not want to recall 
it. We cannot go after them. The FDA doesn't have the authority to 
recall that food. This bill would give them that authority.
  This is a bipartisan bill, strongly supported by consumer groups and 
industry. I have letters from the Grocery Manufacturers Association, 
U.S. Chamber of Commerce, National Restaurant Association, Pew 
Charitable Trusts, Consumers Union, Center for Science in the Public 
Interest, and Trust for America's Health, to name a few. I think it is 
a rarity when I can say both the Chamber of Commerce and the Center for 
Science in the Public Interest are on the same page. That is true here.
  I have several letters, and I ask unanimous consent that they be 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                                                September 8, 2010.
     Senator Richard Durbin,
     U.S. Senate,
     Washington, DC.
     Senator Judd Gregg,
     U.S. Senate,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear Senators Durbin and Gregg: Trust for America's Health 
     (TFAH), a nonprofit, nonpartisan public health advocacy 
     organization, would like to express our strong support for 
     immediate Senate passage of the FDA Food Safety Modernization 
     Act (S. 510). Although every American depends on the safety 
     of the food they serve to their families, the Food and Drug 
     Administration (FDA) lacks the tools to ensure that safety. 
     S. 510 would finally help bring the FDA into the 21st 
     century.
       Approximately 76 million Americans--one in four--are 
     sickened by foodborne disease each year. Of these, an 
     estimated 325,000 are hospitalized and 5,000 die. A recent 
     study by Ohio State University found that foodborne illnesses 
     cost the U.S. economy an estimated $152 billion annually. 
     With multiple severe food outbreaks in recent years, it is 
     urgent that the Senate take this step to keep Americans safe.
       The FDA Food Safety Modernization Act would place more 
     emphasis on prevention of foodborne illness and give the FDA 
     new authorities to address food safety problems. Under this 
     legislation, food processors would be required to identify 
     potential hazards in their production processes and implement 
     preventive programs to eliminate those hazards. Additionally, 
     the bill would require FDA to inspect all food facilities 
     more frequently and give FDA mandatory recall authority of 
     contaminated food. S. 510 is a bipartisan bill, with 
     widespread support from industry, consumer groups, and public 
     health organizations. The bill passed the Senate HELP 
     Committee with a unanimous voice vote, and food safety 
     legislation passed the House last year with overwhelming 
     bipartisan support.
       We thank you for your strong leadership on this 
     legislation. If you have any questions, please do not 
     hesitate to contact TFAH's Government Relations Manager.
           Sincerely,
                                              Jeffrey Levi, Ph.D.,
                                               Executive Director.

[[Page S7920]]

     
                                  ____
                                                September 8, 2010.
     Hon. Dick Durbin,
     U.S. Senate,
     Washington, DC.
     Hon. Judd Gregg,
     U.S. Senate,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear Senator Durbin and Senator Gregg: Consumer Federation 
     of America strongly supports passage of the FDA Food Safety 
     Modernization Act (S. 510). CFA is an association of nearly 
     300 nonprofit consumer organizations that was established in 
     1968 to advance the consumer interest through research, 
     advocacy and education.
       Foodborne illness strikes tens of millions of Americans 
     each year, sends hundreds of thousands to the hospital, and 
     kills approximately 5,000 of us. The diseases are more than 
     ``just a bellyache.'' Many victims suffer long-term chronic 
     health problems including reactive arthritis, kidney failure 
     and Guillain-Barre syndrome. Children under the age of 5 are 
     the most frequent victims of foodborne illness. People over 
     age 60 are most likely to die after contracting a food-
     related illness. The economic costs are enormous. A recent 
     study estimated the annual cost of all foodbome illnesses to 
     be $152 billion.
       The suffering and heartbreak and deaths are pointless. 
     Foodbome diseases are almost entirely preventable. They 
     continue to rage because our nation's primary food safety 
     agency, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, operates under 
     the constraints of a 70-year-old law that is largely 
     extraneous to current threats to food safety. The Food, Drug, 
     and Cosmetic Act does not give the FDA a specific statutory 
     mandate, appropriate program tools, adequate enforcement 
     authority or sufficient resources to stop foodborne disease 
     before it strikes us and our loved ones.
       S. 510 changes the paradigm for fighting foodbome illness, 
     directing the FDA to prevent foodbome illness rather than 
     just reacting to reports of illnesses and deaths. It requires 
     food companies to establish processing controls to avoid food 
     contamination, gives the FDA authority to set food safety 
     standards, and requires the Agency to inspect food processing 
     plants regularly to assure controls are working as intended.
       On behalf of CFA's millions of members, we thank you for 
     your strong leadership in developing S. 510 and your 
     determination to ensure its passage. We look forward to 
     continuing to work with you to get a final bill to the 
     President as soon as possible.
           Sincerely,
                                          Carol L. Tucker-Foreman,
                      Distinguished Fellow, Food Policy Institute.
                                                    Chris Waldrop,
     Director, Food Policy Institute.
                                  ____



                                    The Pew Charitable Trusts,

                               Washington, DC, September 14, 2010.
     Hon. Richard Durbin,
     U.S. Senate,
     Washington, DC.
     Hon. Judd Gregg,
     U.S. Senate,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear Senators Durbin and Gregg: The Pew Charitable Trusts 
     urges the Senate to vote at the soonest possible date on S. 
     510, the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009, and 
     encourages you to continue the important support and 
     leadership you each have provided for this crucial 
     legislation over the past year. The HELP Committee 
     unanimously approved a strong, bipartisan bill in November, 
     and a manager's package of amendments was released in mid-
     August. With the limited time left for legislative action 
     this year, a vote by the full Senate on S. 510 is necessary 
     as soon as possible to ensure that a final bill arrives on 
     the President's desk for enactment before this Congress 
     adjourns.
       This country has experienced a seemingly endless number of 
     foodborne-illness outbreaks and recalls of contaminated 
     products, demonstrating the clear need for this legislation. 
     S. 510 fundamentally shifts the government's approach in this 
     area to preventing food-safety problems, rather than just 
     reacting to them. The bill requires food companies to develop 
     food-safety plans that identify possible sources of 
     contamination and implement measures to minimize them. This 
     legislation also provides the U.S. Food and Drug 
     Administration (FDA) with much-needed enforcement tools, such 
     as mandatory recall authority and better inspection.
       Enactment of FDA food-safety legislation could 
     significantly reduce the burden of foodborne illness in the 
     United States, both for families and businesses. A Pew-funded 
     study estimates the annual health-related costs of foodborne 
     illness at $152 billion. For this reason, a wide range of 
     stakeholders--consumer advocates, public health 
     organizations, and major industry groups--support this bill. 
     We thank you for your leadership on S. 510 and ask you to 
     continue your efforts to secure its passage.
           Sincerely,
                                                Shelley A. Hearne,
     Managing Director, Pew Health Group.
                                  ____



                                              Consumers Union,

                                  Yonkers, NY, September 10, 2010.
     Hon. Richard J. Durbin,
     Hart Senate Office Building,
     Washington, DC.
     Hon. Judd Gregg,
     Russell Senate Office Building,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear Senator Durbin and Senator Gregg: Consumers Union, the 
     non-profit publisher of Consumer Reports magazine, writes in 
     support of S. 510, the bipartisan FDA Food Safety 
     Modernization Act. This legislation will finally bring our 
     outdated food safety laws into the 21st century, and will 
     help protect consumers from deadly recalls like last month's 
     recall of half a billion eggs for Salmonella contamination. 
     Consumers expect that the food they eat and serve to their 
     families will not make them sick, or worse. We applaud your 
     leadership on this vital consumer protection legislation, and 
     hope that S. 510 comes to the floor of the Senate for a vote 
     in September.
       S. 510 will protect consumers by:
       Requiring the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to inspect 
     food processing plants on a regular basis;
       Giving FDA the power to order recalls of contaminated food; 
     right now, the agency can only request that the food be 
     recalled and hope that companies respond in the public 
     interest;
       Requiring food producers to identify where food can become 
     unsafe, and requiring them to take steps to prevent 
     contamination by Salmonella, E. coli, Listeria, and other 
     pathogens;
       Improving methods of tracing contaminated food back to its 
     source, so that consumers can act in a timely and 
     knowledgeable fashion to protect their families from unsafe 
     food; and
       Requiring imported food to meet the same safety standards 
     as food produced in the U.S.
       S. 510 also takes steps to address the concerns raised by 
     small food producers that they be regulated in a scale-
     appropriate manner.
       We also urge you to support Senator Feinstein's proposed 
     amendment to ban Bisphenol-A (BPA), an endocrine disruptor, 
     from baby bottles, sippy cups, baby food, and infant formula. 
     BPA has been linked to a wide range of health problems. 
     Numerous studies have shown BPA effects on the brain, 
     prostate, hormonal and reproductive systems, and it has been 
     linked to an increased risk of insulin resistance and even 
     cancer.
       The health impact is even more pronounced on babies and 
     children. Seven states and several cities have already taken 
     action to ban BPA from food and beverage containers used by 
     children and babies, as have three nations, including Canada. 
     In addition, packaging and containers already exist on the 
     market today without this chemical. We urge you to support 
     the Feinstein amendment, and to provide all American children 
     with BPA-free food and drink.
       Again, we thank you for your strong leadership on this 
     vital public health legislation. We look forward to working 
     with you to send a final bill to the President's desk for 
     signature this fall.
           Sincerely,
                                                    Jean Halloran,
                                Director, Food Policy Initiatives.
                                                    Ami V. Gadhia,
     Policy Counsel.
                                  ____

                                               September 15, 2010.
     Senator Harry Reid,
     Office of the Senate Majority Leader, Capitol Building, 
         Washington, DC.
     Senator Mitch McConnell,
     Office of the Senate Minority Leader, Capitol Building, 
         Washington DC.
       Dear Majority Leader Reid & Minority Leader McConnell: Our 
     organizations are writing to urge you to schedule a vote on 
     S. 510, the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009, at the 
     soonest possible date. The HELP Committee approved a strong, 
     bipartisan bill in November, and we believe that a vote would 
     keep the momentum going for enactment of landmark food-safety 
     legislation.
       Strong food-safety legislation will reduce the risk of 
     contamination and thereby better protect public health and 
     safety, raise the bar for the food industry, and deter bad 
     actors. S. 510 will provide the U.S. Food and Drug 
     Administration (FDA) with the resources and authorities the 
     agency needs to help make prevention the focus of our food 
     safety strategies. Among other things, this legislation 
     requires food companies to develop a food safety plan; it 
     improves the safety of imported food and food ingredients; 
     and it adopts a risk-based approach to inspection.
       Our organizations--representing the food industry, 
     consumers, and the public-health community--urge you to bring 
     S. 510 to the floor, and we will continue to work with 
     Congress for the enactment of food safety legislation that 
     better protects consumers, restores their confidence in the 
     safety of the food they eat, and addresses the challenges 
     posed by our global food supply.
           Sincerely,
         American Beverage Association, American Frozen Food 
           Institute, Center for Foodborne Illness Research & 
           Education, Center for Science in the Public Interest, 
           Consumer Federation of America, Consumers Union, Food 
           Marketing Institute, Grocery Manufacturers Association, 
           International Bottled Water Association, International 
           Dairy Foods Association, National Association of 
           Manufacturers, National Coffee Association of U.S.A., 
           Inc., National Confectioners Association, National 
           Consumers League, National Restaurant Association, The 
           PEW Charitable Trusts, Trust for America's Health, 
           Snack Food Association, S.T.O.P. Safe Tables Our 
           Priority, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, U.S. Public 
           Interest Research Group.

[[Page S7921]]

           
                                  ____
                                          Department of Health and


                                               Human Services,

                               Washington, DC, September 10, 2010.
       Dear Member of Congress, The events of the past two weeks 
     have illustrated a pattern that is all too familiar. Local 
     health officials around the country begin to see an uptick in 
     illnesses from a particular source. As they notify the 
     Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, epidemiologists 
     begin to see a pattern in the illness and outbreak reports, 
     identify a food as the likely cause, and notify the Food and 
     Drug Administration (FDA). FDA, state health and local 
     officials then deploy investigators across the country, 
     furiously searching for the source of the illness, knowing 
     that every day more people are getting sick, some seriously. 
     In the meantime, the public must be warned to avoid the food 
     of concern, creating anxiety for consumers and economic 
     losses for farmers, food processors and retailers.
       This time we're seeing this pattern play out with 
     Salmonella Enteriditis in eggs, with illnesses in 22 states 
     and more than half a billion eggs being recalled. But in 
     recent years it has been spinach, salsa, peanut butter, bean 
     sprouts, cookie dough, green onions--the list goes on and on, 
     covering many of our most common foods. Many people are left 
     wondering: heading into the second decade of the 21st 
     century, why can't we prevent and react more effectively to 
     the threat from foodborne illness?
       Sadly, the answer is simple. As President Obama said during 
     last year's peanut butter outbreak, caused by a different 
     form of Salmonella, we have a food safety regulatory system 
     designed early in the 20th century, one that must be 
     overhauled, modernized and strengthened for today.
       Under the current system, FDA is often forced to chase food 
     contaminations after they have occurred, rather than 
     protecting the public from them in the first place. 
     Difficulties in tracking the movement of food from its origin 
     to its eventual sale to the public (often far across the 
     country) can frustrate efforts to identify contaminated food. 
     The biggest surprise to most people: FDA cannot order a 
     recall of contaminated food once it is found in the 
     marketplace. Although government has a crucial role in 
     ensuring the safety of our food supply, strong regulation has 
     been missing. An overhaul of our antiquated food safety 
     system is long overdue.
       Proposed food safety legislation would give FDA better ways 
     to more quickly trace back contaminated products to the 
     source, the ability to check firms' safety records before 
     problems occur, clear authority to require firms to identify 
     and resolve food safety hazards, and resources to find 
     additional inspections and other oversight activities. 
     Pending legislation would also give the agency mandatory 
     recall authority, and other strong enforcement tools, like 
     new civil penalties and increased criminal penalties for 
     companies that fail to comply with safety requirements. In a 
     world where more and more food is imported, the legislation 
     also would strengthen FDA's ability to ensure the safety of 
     imported food.
       The good news is that a bipartisan majority in the House of 
     Representatives passed major food safety legislation last 
     year that would move the United States from a reactive food 
     safety system to one focused on preventing illness. Likewise 
     in the Senate, a bipartisan coalition has developed a strong 
     food safety bill that is ready for the Senate floor. This 
     legislation has the support of a remarkably broad coalition 
     of public health, consumer and food industry groups. We 
     commend both chambers for their hard work.
       Now it's time to finish the job. We encourage Senators to 
     support a critical and commonsense piece of public health 
     legislation. And, we urge the House and Senate to quickly 
     deliver a modem food safety bill to the President's desk. 
     It's time to break the pattern of foodborne illnesses and 
     economic loss. It's time to give FDA the modem tools and 
     resources it needs to meet the challenges of the 21st 
     century.
                                                Kathleen Sebelius,
               Secretary, Department of Health and Human Services.
                                        Margaret A. Hamburg, M.D.,
                                   Commissioner of Food and Drugs.

  Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I have said many times that to say that 
food safety in this country is a patchwork is giving it too much 
credit. Food safety has too often become a hit-or-miss gamble, with 
parents obliged to kind of roll the dice when it comes to the safety of 
their kids' food. It is frightening and unacceptable. It is past time 
to modernize our food safety laws and regulations--70 years past time. 
We need to give FDA the resources and authority it needs to cope with a 
growing problem that threatens today a more abundant and diverse food 
supply. We need to act now.
  I urge my colleagues to join the bipartisan sponsors to pass this 
important legislation and vote for cloture this afternoon on the motion 
to proceed. Hopefully, we can get on the bill and pass it as soon as 
possible, so that the families of America will have more assurance that 
the food they eat, no matter what the source, or from where it comes, 
has more safety procedures attached to it, and so that we have a new 
process for prevention in place for all facilities in this country and 
in foreign countries, and so we can raise the bar and say to our 
families that you can have more assurance in the future that the food 
you buy, whether it is the fresh fruits you buy in the middle of 
winter, shipped from Chile, Argentina, or Mexico, or Guatemala, or the 
fresh fruits you get in the summertime from California, Washington 
State, and Canada, or the produce, the lettuce, the bagged spinach, or 
whatever it might be, will be more safe for you and your family. That 
is what this is all about--protecting our families and making sure our 
food safety laws are adequate for the 21st century and not the 18th 
century.
  I yield the floor.

                          ____________________