[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Pages 15280-15281]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   FDA FOOD SAFETY MODERNIZATION ACT

  Mr. ENZI. Mr. President, I rise today to talk about an issue 
important to us all--the safety of our food. Food safety is not a 
partisan issue--we all want to be confident that the food we eat and 
give to our children will not make us sick. That is why I have been 
working with my colleagues in a bipartisan way to pass S. 510, the FDA 
Food Safety Modernization Act.
  This bill goes a long way to bringing the regulation of food into the 
21st century. No longer will outdated laws hold the FDA back from 
protecting us. This bill takes into account the changes in our food 
supply over the more than 100 years since food safety authorities were 
first granted to the agency. This bill provides real consumer safety 
improvements, while maintaining an appropriate balance between 
regulatory burden and food safety benefit.
  I want to thank Senators Gregg, Burr, and Durbin for their hard work 
and leadership in developing and introducing this bill. Their efforts 
to ensure that this was a bipartisan process, starting from a blank 
piece of paper, were critical to seeing this bill move. I also commend 
Senator Harkin, the chairman of the HELP Committee, for prioritizing 
this bill and moving it through committee.
  We, along with Senator Dodd, have continued to work together over the 
last few months, which resulted in only a few issues remaining to 
debate on the floor. That kind of cooperation is what the American 
people expect of us. It certainly wasn't easy at times, but this is how 
we are supposed to legislate, and I am glad we met our obligations.
  The House passed a food safety bill 1 year ago. There are significant 
differences between the House and Senate

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bills, and I hope we can bring this bill to the Senate floor as soon as 
possible so that there is sufficient time to conference the two bills 
and see legislation signed into law this year.

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