AFIA Applauds the Senate for Passage of S. 510 by a Vote of 73-25
American Feed Industry Association
The American Feed Industry Association (AFIA) today applauded the Senate for passage of long-overdue comprehensive food safety reform legislation, and urged the House of Representatives to accept the bipartisan Senate bill at the earliest opportunity.
“The Senate bill has been a long time coming,” said AFIA President and CEO Joel G. Newman. “But the process has been bipartisan, inclusive and productive, ultimately yielding a good bill. We urge House leadership to accept the Senate bill as the most practical approach to improving U.S. food safety and move it to President Obama’s desk before the lame duck congressional session ends.”
“AFIA worked with Capitol Hill – in both chambers and on both sides of the aisle – to ensure the commercial feed and pet food industries are recognized as separate from human food processing, and certain regulations contemplated for human food are appropriate for livestock, poultry and pet foods,” Newman said. “We’re pleased the Senate recognized the wisdom in authorizing regulation based upon the industry and products being regulated. This will avoid unnecessary, unproductive and expensive regulation of feeds and pet food.”
S. 510, the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act of 2010, gives the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) sweeping new authority to oversee the safety of the nation’s food supply. FDA is given mandatory recall authority for the first time, but that authority is tempered with administrative protections. The bill requires companies currently registered as “food producers” under the Bioterrorism Act to register with FDA, create written, risk-based hazard control programs – current feed industry Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMPs) are recognized as “risk-based” programs – as well as enhancing recordkeeping and reporting, and creating new traceback systems in the event of a recall. New food safety standards are mandated for fruit and vegetable producers, and imported ingredients and food constituents are subject to enhanced inspection, recordkeeping and monitoring.
The Senate bill now moves to the House, which approved its own version of food safety reform in 2009. While both bills are built upon a risk-based approach to regulating food safety, AFIA strongly believes the Senate bill is the better approach as it does dictate to FDA how new authorities should be implemented.
S. 510 was authored by Sens. Richard Durbin (D, IL) and Richard Burr (R, NC), and is supported by nearly a quarter of the Senate. Sen. Tom Harkin (D, IA), chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions (HELP) Committee, and the panel’s ranking member, Sen. Mike Enzi (R, WY) also embraced S. 510, with Sen. Judd Gregg (R, NH), Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R, GA) and Sen. Christopher Dodd (D, CT) lending critical support.
About AFIA:
The American Feed Industry Association is the world’s largest organization devoted exclusively to representing the business, legislative and regulatory interests of the U.S. animal feed industry and its suppliers. AFIA, founded in 1909, also is the recognized leader on international industry developments. Members include more than 500 domestic and international companies and state, regional and national associations. Member-companies are livestock feed and pet food manufacturers, integrators, pharmaceutical companies, ingredient suppliers, equipment manufacturers and companies which supply other products, services and supplies to feed manufacturers. #
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