WASHINGTON – Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro (Conn.-3) today accepted 12,000 petitions calling for increased oversight of the nation’s food supply by Ladies’ Home Journal editor-in-chief Diane Salvatore. At the event, the lawmakers announced the introduction of their Safe Food Act – legislation that calls for the development of a single food safety agency and the implementation of a food safety program to standardize American food safety activities.

Under current law, food safety monitoring, inspection and labeling functions are spread across 12 agencies in the federal government, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) which oversees meat, poultry and egg products; the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) which oversees most other food products; and the U.S. Commerce Department’s National Marine Fisheries Service which inspects fish.

“The challenge to Congress is to summon the political will to protect America’s families with a modern, coordinated food safety agency,” Durbin said. “Make no mistake – our nation is blessed with the safest and most abundant food supply in the world. But our current food safety system is a food fight among federal agencies playing by 35 different rule books. We have politics at their worst in an area where American families rightfully demand our best.”

“Our government has a moral obligation to ensure the integrity of our food supply,” said DeLauro, the co-chair of the Congressional Food Safety Caucus. “For too long there has been uneven and unpredictable oversight of our food system - leading in many cases to unexpected foodborne illness outbreaks, significant public health problems and, in certain instances, significant economic losses. Congress can, and should, do more.”

Durbin and DeLauro said the involvement of so many agencies can result in duplication of responsibilities, service gaps and inconsistencies and confusion about which agency oversees different types of food. They noted that while FDA, which has jurisdiction over frozen cheese pizza, inspects cheese pizza processors once every 10 years on average; USDA, with responsibility over frozen pepperoni pizza, inspects such processors daily. In another example, eggs still in the shell are under the jurisdiction of FDA, while USDA takes over once the eggs are broken.

After a May 2004 Ladies’ Home Journal featured an expose on our food supply entitled, “The fatal flaw in your fresh foods” and a petition asking readers to sign if they agreed increased oversight of the food supply was needed, 12,000 readers responded. The magazine vowed to share these petitions with Congress, prompting today’s event. Durbin and DeLauro accepted the petitions and will pass them on in a letter to President Bush.

“Ladies’ Home Journal has a proud legacy of advocating for meaningful social change and health improvements in the lives of American families. This powerful response from our readers today, from all across the country, demonstrates their continuing commitment to being active, educated and vocal participants in efforts that protect their families.” Says Diane Salvatore, editor in chief for Ladies’ Home Journal.

The new agency created by the lawmakers’ bill – dubbed the Food Safety Administration – would be the first of its kind, free from the entanglements of past regulators who have had to balance food safety with the competing priorities of drug approval or agriculture promotion.

Some of the new responsibilities under the Food Safety Administration include:

Regular, but random, inspection of all food processing plants.

Categorized review process for all foods to monitor and inspect them based on their risk, not their name.

Increased oversight of imported foods.

Established requirements for tracing foods to point of origin.

The Food Safety Administration would be comprised of approximately 14,250 people, moved from various departments. According to the 2004 enacted budget of the agencies, approximately $1.9 billion would be used for the creation of the new Food Safety Administration.

The legislation builds on a similar bill introduced in the last Congress by the lawmakers. After discussions with consumers, food safety experts, and the industry, Durbin and DeLauro strengthened the bill to focus more on education and research and included the regulation of food animals.

Founded in December 1883, Ladies' Home Journal magazine has been inspiring, informing and entertaining women for 120 years. Published monthly by Meredith Corporation (www.meredith.com), Ladies’ Home Journal has a circulation of 4.1 million and a readership of 13.4 million. The magazine’s interactive online companion, www.lhj.com, has 1.8 million unique visitors and 20 million page views each month.