While the U.S. food supply is one of the safest in the world, each year thousands of Minnesotans become sick, and dozens die, from foodborne illnesses.  I believe the current system relies too heavily on reacting to outbreaks after they have occurred, instead of preventing them in the first place.

Minnesota is regarded as the national leader in early detection of foodborne diseases.  We have a long history of working effectively with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to identify food safety problems and solve them quickly.  So we know from our own experience in Minnesota that a safer food supply is possible.  

As a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee I will support efforts to improve the FDA’s ability to keep our food safe, to trace contaminated products back to their source, and to prevent any future illnesses and deaths from foodborne illness.

Since passing the Food Safety Act, we have been receiving a lot of questions from Minnesotans who are concerned about how this impact of this legislation on small farms. Farming and agriculture are incredibly important to Minnesota, so we made certain to include exemptions for small farms and small facilities from increased FDA regulation to ensure that they'll be able to continue operating as they always have. We also put together a brief FAQ to address some of the concerns people have raised.