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Feedstuffs.com June 18, 2009

New version of food safety bill hailed for compromises

"A major bill to reform the Food and Drug Administration's authority on food safety cleared the House Energy and Commerce committee on a voice vote Wednesday morning. It now heads to the House floor for action. The bill was praised by Democrats and Republicans alike who noted the committee's leadership worked with both sides of the aisle and stakeholders to forge compromises that drew bipartisan support. The committee vote came on a 133-page version of the bill, which as unveiled Wednesday morning as a substitute for previous versions. The substitute included compromises that were agreed to in the wake of last week's markup of the bill in the health subcommittee.

"The bill as it now stands includes language worked out at a meeting Monday with committee staffers and the National Grain and Feed Association, the Pet Food Institute, and the American Feed Industry Association that differentiates between human food and animal feed when setting hygiene and other standards for production.

"Industry sources, who had major concerns about the bill that emerged last week, are analyzing the new bill language.

"The food safety bill survived an attempt to add language to the bill to ban the subtherapeutic use of antibiotics in livestock production. The amendment was offered by Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D., Ill.) to give voice to the issue, but she withdrew it without pressing for a vote. House Energy and Commerce chairman Henry Waxman (D., Calif.) pledge to support future action on antimicrobial resistance, but praised Schakowsky for withdrawing the amendment from the food safety bill noting "it is contentious and a compromise could not be reached for this markup." Waxman's committee expects to take up a comprehensive bill to reform FDA's authority on drugs and medical devices later this year.

"An animal health industry insider told Feedstuffs that any bill that deals with FDA authorities is a potential target for inclusion of the attempt to ban subtherapeutic use of livestock antibiotics."