DeLauro Continues Fight for a Single Food Safety Agency

Washington, DC— Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (CT-3), Chairwoman of the FDA and Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee, announced today the reintroduction of the Single Food Safety Agency Act of 2010, which would create a federal agency exclusively focused on protecting the nation's food supply. Congresswoman DeLauro first introduced this legislation in 1999.

"The new figures released today by the CDC demonstrate that, while the methodology for estimating the number of foodborne illness has improved, foodborne disease remains a major public health threat. With nearly 50 million illnesses, 100,00 hospitalizations, and over 3,000 deaths each year, these estimates show that significant work remains in identifying and combating the pathogens that cause foodborne illness.

"The FDA Food Safety Modernization Act currently pending before Congress represents a good first step toward reducing the number of preventable illnesses and deaths. The bill takes a common sense approach in addressing our food safety system by giving the FDA greater authority to inspect food safety records relating to recalls, increasing inspections of high-risk facilities, improving traceability in the event of an illness outbreak, and creating a more accurate registry of food facilities.

"However, our efforts to reform the food safety system must not end there because the jurisdictional overlaps and complicated regulatory structure will continue to hamper our efforts to make our food supply safer. That is why I am re-introducing legislation that would create a single independent food safety agency that would help reduce the potential for future outbreaks, implement the best food safety practices, and eliminate the jurisdictional issues we have faced. Ultimately, a single food agency solely focused on protecting American consumers is critical to ensuring the safety of our food supply and protecting the public health."