The Council for Responsible Nutrition prods two key senators about passing food safety reform as time runs down for passing the legislation during this Congress.

CRN sent a ¹ letter Sept. 9 to Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Judd Gregg, R-N.H., lead authors of the Food Safety Modernization Act, S. 510, which the dietary supplement industry prefers over a similar House bill.

S. 510 "represents what may be the best opportunity to lead a national, if not global, agreement on food-borne illness protection," CRN President Steve Mister wrote.

No date has been set for a vote on S. 510, but it may come before the Senate adjourns to campaign for midterm elections, according to the staff of Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

CRN did not mention the differences between S. 510 and the bill the House passed in July 2009, the Food Safety Enhancement Act, H.R. 2749. Both bills give FDA new authorities, including mandatory recall and increased access to manufacturer records (² Also see "Food Safety Legislation Shows Signs Of Life In Senate" - Pink Sheet, 16 August, 2010.).

However, CRN and other industry stakeholders have made clear they back the Senate bill, which exempts supplement manufacturers from additional regulations that H.R. 2749 imposes on all food products.

The letter mentions supplement products are subject to specific good manufacturing practices regulations and adverse event reporting laws.

Those and other regulations would be redundant to the additional rules the House bill proposes, stakeholders contend in an argument backed by Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Tom Harkin (³ Also see "House Passes Food Safety Bill That May Not Be Appetizing To Senate" - Pink Sheet, 3 August, 2009.).

When Durbin and Gregg introduced S. 510, Harkin added language to exempt supplement manufacturers from regulations intended for conventional food products. The Iowa Democrat also shepherded the bill through his committee.

For their part, Durbin and Gregg insist on imposing only targeted user fees in food safety reform, as their bill does. The House bill, however, creates both general and targeted user fees that firms would pay to fund FDA's increased food facility inspection load.

Copies of the letter also will be sent to Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., plus other members who negotiated the version of the bill released Aug. 12: Republicans Mike Enzi, Wyo., and Richard Burr, N.C., and Democrats Chris Dodd, Conn., and Harkin.

Is Time Running Out?

Meanwhile, public health advocacy groups, led by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, conducted a media briefing Sept. 8 to encourage the Senate to take up the legislation when members return from recess.

"It really is a team effort to get this legislation passed, but we need the Senate to do their job," said Caroline Smith DeWaal, food safety director at the CSPI.

For six months, Senate staff have said the bill is on the calendar, but it has yet to come to a vote, she said. CSPI and other groups believe the bill will pass if it reaches the floor, DeWaal said, but they are concerned there will not be enough time for the Senate to move S. 510 to a vote and for a conference committee to iron out differences with the House bill.

If the legislation does not pass before the 111 Congress adjourns, both chambers would have to start the entire process over again in January. "The Senate has really been bogged down through an inability to tackle some challenging issues," DeWaal said.

The groups, including the Consumer Federation of America and Safe Tables Our Priority, released a report showing 85 food recalls linked to illnesses in more than 1,800 people in the 13 months since the House passed its bill. The number was calculated using FDA recall notices and reports, and does not include meat recalls because those products are subject to Department of Agriculture regulations.

FDA officials, lawmakers and advocacy groups are pointing to the recall of salmonella-infested eggs to call for Senate action on food safety, indicating the proposed regulations, in tandem with FDA's recently implemented egg safety rules, could have prevented the outbreak (⁴ Also see "Congress, FDA Scramble To Link Egg Contamination To Strengthening Food Safety" - Pink Sheet, 30 August, 2010.).

The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight will discuss the recall at a hearing Sept. 14.

- Carolyn B. Phenicie ( ⁵ c.phenicie@elsevier.com )

CRN Goes To The Source Of Senate Food Safety Bill To Push For Passage

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