<b>By TIM ALEXANDER<br>
Illinois Correspondent </b> </p><p>

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Many of the nation’s most important food safety statutes have not been updated in more than 40 years, according to U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), who announced on Dec. 11 an amendment to the Farm Bill which will require Congress to reform the food safety functions of the federal government.</p><p>
Congress currently has no mechanism in place to regularly review the nation’s food safety policy though food safety technology, science and best practices change frequently, he said.</p><p>
“Look at the facts – the Federal Meat Inspection Act was written in response to (author) Upton Sinclair’s “The Jungle,” and recently celebrated its 100th anniversary. We have learned more in the past 50 years about how the human body responds to disease and infection than in the previous 500 years. Our food safety laws should be updated and based on modern science,” Durbin said, citing the U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Academies of Science, Government Accountability Office and the President’s Council on Food Safety as some of the many agencies and organizations to call for broad reforms in the U.S. food safety system recently.</p><p>
So far, Durbin said, Congress has failed to respond to demand for sweeping reform.</p><p>
“Simply put, food safety has not been a priority in Washington. Instead of updating the laws governing the safety of food, Congress has relied on passing piece-meal, product-specific provisions which don’t address the big picture. As a result we have a confusing, bureaucratic mess. That has to change,” he said.</p><p>
Durbin’s farm bill amendment comes on the heels of two more U.S. food recalls – 5 million frozen pizzas and one million pounds of ground beef due to the presence of E.coli. There have been 48 recalls of contaminated food regulated by the USDA’s Food Safety Inspection Service and more than 150 recalls under the jurisdiction of the FDA in 2007, according to information provided by Durbin’s office. </p><p>
The farm bill already includes language inserted at Durbin’s urging that would require the creation of a Congressional Bipartisan Food Safety Commission charged with overseeing the nation’s food safety system.
In September, President Bush signed the Food and Drug Revitalization Act which included food safety proposals authored by Durbin and designed to spur faster alerts and recalls through the food supply chain.</p><p>
In addition, Durbin recently introduced the Safe Food Act, legislation that would implement a food safety program to standardize American food safety activities. He has also called for more funding for the USDA and FDA to increase food safety inspections. </p><p>
Durbin also issued a statement on Dec. 11 blasting the U.S.’ recent agreement with China regarding the safety of Chinese food imports.
“I am pleased the Bush Administration and the Chinese government have reached an agreement to protect American consumers and deal with the flood of unsafe items being imported from China,” Durbin said. “However, today’s Memorandum of Understanding still falls short in a number of critical areas.”</p><p>
Durbin said though the agreement is sound in principle, it applies to only a tiny fraction of the food the U.S. imports from China, is vague concerning inspections and doesn’t go far enough to restore confidence in Chinese goods. </p><p>
“The agreement improves access by FDA inspectors to Chinese facilities, but it does not guarantee that access and does not specify the number of U.S. inspectors the Chinese will allow,” Durbin stated.</p><p>
“It is important that once a tainted product is traced back to a production facility our inspectors be granted full unrestricted access and that we have a sufficient number of safety officials in place to deal with the problem.
Whether this agreement actually succeeds in protecting consumers will depend on how committed the Bush Administration is to providing the necessary resources in their budget ... to implement the plan.”