990277 Food Safety Bill Would Send FDA Inspectors Overseas

Washington - Food safety legislation that would step up border inspections of fresh fruits and vegetables and require country-of-origin labeling was introduced Wednesday by three Democratic congressmen.

The legislation is one of the first food safety measures to surface in Congress this year, which last year failed to muster enough votes to enact any of a dozen bills intended to curb foodborne diseases like salmonella, campylobacter, E. coli and listeria.

An estimated 9,000 Americans die annually of food poisoning, and tens of millions of others are sickened by it, according to government scientists.

The proposed legislation would cost about $56 million, mostly to hire extra inspectors for the federal Food and Drug Administration, said Rep. Sherrod Brown, an Ohio Democrat. The inspectors would be stationed at the U.S. border, and in foreign countries, where they could physically inspect crops and production lines.

Fewer than 2% of all imported food is now checked for safety by FDA inspectors.

The FDA is responsible for the safety of fruits, vegetables and most processed foods, while the more generously funded U.S. Agriculture Department monitors meat and poultry.

“If we send USDA inspectors to Argentina to monitor beef plants for U.S. imports, we should be able to send inspectors to Guatemala to check on raspberry fields and processing,” Brown said.

The bill also would require country-of-origin labeling on imported food, much like a program adopted by Florida state officials. Florida officials said the labeling program could be adopted for a cost of less than $20 per store per week.

Co-sponsoring the bill were Rep. John Dingell and and Rep. Bart Stupak, both Michigan Democrats.

Sen. Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, held a series of food safety hearings last year and plans to introduce legislation with bipartisan backing later this year, an aide said.

A major food industry group, the Grocery Manufacturers of America, said it welcomed any proposals to fund more food-safety research, but believed the legislation went too far in granting FDA inspection authority overseas.

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