Press Release of U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer

Boxer Lauds Senate Passage of Food Safety Bill  

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) today lauded the Senate’s bipartisan vote to pass the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, which will help protect consumers and the nation’s food supply from outbreaks of food-borne illnesses. The measure passed on a 73-25 vote.  

Senator Boxer said, “This common-sense legislation will help protect our families and California’s agricultural industry by improving the safety of our nation’s food supply. I am pleased that the bill includes my provision to ensure that new food safety rules won’t jeopardize the critical conservation work being done on farms in California and across the nation.”  

As the mass production and distribution of food has increased, the Food and Drug Administration has lacked the modern tools and legal authority to effectively ensure a safe food supply. This legislation would: 

• Ensure consumer protection by granting FDA mandatory recall authority; 

• Enhance food-borne illness surveillance systems to improve the collection, analysis, reporting and usefulness of data collected; 

• Increase the number of FDA inspections at foreign and domestic facilities; • Provide grants and training to help small farms and processors implement new food safety regulations;  

• Remove contaminated food from store shelves faster by enhancing tracking and tracing of high-risk foods; 

• Establish pilot projects to test and evaluate new methods for rapidly and effectively tracking and tracing food in the event of a food-borne illness outbreak.  

This bill also includes a provision authored by Senator Boxer which requires the FDA to apply “science-based minimum standards” to any requirements that might impact wildlife and wildlife habitat on farms. The measure will help ensure that new regulations will not undermine progress made by farmers and conservationists to improve land conservation in California and nationwide. 

The bill now moves to the House of Representatives for final passage.