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AJC.com > Legislature > Blog > Archives > 2009 > February > 18 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USSenate passes food testing disclosure law in response to salmonella outbreak
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Food processing plants would have to inform the government of positive test results of food contamination _ such as salmonella _ under a bill that unanimously passed the Senate Wednesday.
Sen. John Bulloch (R-Ochlocknee), said his bill, S.B. 80, would be one of the toughest in the nation and require food processors to report such results within 24 hours to the state Department of Agriculture.
Companies would also have to keep such records for two years.
“It’s a step in the right direction,” Bulloch said.
The legislation is in response to the nationwide salmonella outbreak stemming from tainted peanut butter traced to the Peanut Corp. of America processing plant in Blakely, Ga., which is in Bulloch’s district.
The outbreak has sickened more than 600 people and may have killed nine.
The new reporting requirements would raise “a red flag,” with the state if contamination were found, Bulloch said.
Under the bill, which passed the Senate 50 to 0, the state’s Department of Agriculture would determine how frequently plants must test their products.
But, in a last-minute amendment introduced on the Senate floor by Bulloch, a food processor could be exempted from the Department of Agriculture’s testing rules if it submits a food safety plan and the state approves it.
Sen. Nan Orrock (D-Atlanta) asked Bulloch if this amendment weakens the bill. “They can follow their own plan rather than the rules and regulations of the Department of Agriculture,” she said.
“You’re partly right,” Bulloch said. But he added that it’s up to the state to decide if the food safety plans are adequate. The amendment was adopted.
All food processors regularly test their products with state regulation, or without it, Bulloch said. It’s likely that any food safety plan would contain testing, he said.
“A company has to be responsible for the products it sells,” Bulloch said.
The results of not testing food quality can be disastrous, he said. Peanut Corp. of America has gone bankrupt. “They’ve lost everything,” Bulloch said.
“In this case, they may lose their freedom.”
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By Peanut Man
February 24, 2009 9:19 AM | Link to this
How much money did Saxby Chambliss take from Peanut Corporation of America? What did Peanut Corporation get from Sxaby Chambliss?