We welcome the report issued today by the Institute of Medicine, Enhancing Food Safety: The Role of the Food and Drug Administration. CFA is pleased that the NAS Committee review of the Food and Drug Administration’s role in ensuring safe food acknowledges the imperative of giving the agency a mandate to prevent foodborne illness and to administer a risk-based system. The report specifically recommends that Congress provide the FDA with the authorities necessary to fulfill its food safety mission, including mandatory registration, mandatory preventive process controls, enforceable performance standards, enhanced access to records, and mandatory recall authority. All of these elements are included in legislation that has passed the House and is pending in the Senate.  The U.S. Senate should pass S. 510, the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, immediately to provide FDA with these critical authorities.

The report released today says the FDA needs to become more efficient and better target its limited resources to better prevent foodborne illness outbreaks. It suggests doing that, in part, by turning inspection of food processing facilities over to state and local governments, which have far fewer resources than the FDA. We do not think that creating a new unfunded mandate on state governments is advisable or realistic.