(FoodNavigator.com – Caroline Scott-Thomas)
Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) has said he intends to hold up food safety legislation that has been stalled in the Senate since last November, as there is no indication of how it would be funded. “Without paying for this bill, at best we are just passing it for a press release, and at worse, we shackle the FDA with unfunded mandates,” Coburn said in a document published on his website on Wednesday.
Supporters of the Food Safety Modernization Act have been pushing to get the bill on the Senate’s agenda as soon as possible, particularly in the wake of the nationwide egg recall that has sickened at least 1,500 people. They claim that the bill is necessary to strengthen the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), giving it authority to order recalls, and requiring better recordkeeping from food manufacturing facilities. Read more here.
