Congresswoman DeLauro Is Bound And Determined To Get Her Single Food Safety Agency

Great news:

DeLauro Reintroduces Single Food Safety Agency Legislation, Food Quality News, Dec 17, 2010

She did this back in 1999 and periodically since.

Remember, the Food Safety Modernization Act currently going through Congress only addresses FDA's oversight. (But it's still needed.) There are up to 15 discrete agencies which in some way regulate food.

The current bill doesn't specifically address meat and poultry since those are under USDA's umbrella, as are egg products ... but not eggs:

"The FDA is responsible for egg safety when eggs are still in the shell, but the USDA takes over once they are broken. In addition, the FDA is in charge of chicken feed safety, while the USDA is responsible for the chickens."

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Helena Bottemiller at Food Safety News has a choice quote from Senator Tom Coburn (R-Okla), who opposes the current food safety bill, but who has no qualms supporting one food safety agency:

"If you buy a cheese pizza, the Department of Agriculture is responsible for that. But if you buy a pepperoni pizza, it is the FDA. I may have them reversed. I do have them reversed. The FDA is responsible for cheese pizzas. How does that make sense?"

"It is a symptom of the disease in Washington," continued Coburn. "First of all, it is stupid. Second of all, it is inefficient. Third of all, it guarantees the two agencies are not going to be talking to each other."

"What do we have going on here? We have a mess."

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