Senate panel passes food safety bill tied to Blakely plant

By Bob Keefe

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

WASHINGTON -- A Senate committee on Wednesday approved a far-reaching food safety bill drafted in the wake of the massive salmonella outbreak that was traced to a Georgia peanut processing plant earlier this year.

The legislation would represent the biggest overhaul of the nation's food safety system in decades.

It would require the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to inspect food-processing plants at least once every four years -- once a year for plants that handle high-risk foods.

It would also require all food manufacturing plants to have safety programs in place, and importers would have to verify the safety of foods they bring into the country.

The FDA also would be able to instigate mandatory recalls of products. Currently, the FDA can only encourage companies to make voluntary recalls.

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee passed a version of the bipartisan bill -- U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) is a co-sponsor -- despite concerns by some lawmakers over the potential effects of errant recalls on farmers and others.

Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) pointed out how a recent salmonella scare that was incorrectly tied to tomatoes cost one farmer in her state $750,000 in lost sales.

"One false recall can put a family [farm] out of business," she said.

While the agriculture industry has expressed some concerns about added costs because of increased federal regulation, Isakson said he thought opposition was relatively limited, in part because farmers, food processors and others realize the possible business risks from food-borne illnesses.

"This bill is a good balance between the processors, the producers and the growers," Isakson said. "There are some [agriculture] concerns ... and we'll certainly work on those."

The U.S. House in July overwhelming passed its version of the food safety legislation.

While the Senate health committee's approval clears a major hurdle for the bill, it's unlikely the full Senate will vote on it before the end of the year, since Congress is busy with health care and other issues.

According to the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, food-borne diseases cause about 76 million illnesses and 5,000 deaths each year in the United States.

Congress and the Obama administration began working on overhauling the nation's food safety in response to numerous outbreaks of food-borne illness this year -- the biggest being the salmonella outbreak traced in January to peanut paste made at the Peanut Corporation of America's plant in Blakely, Ga. At least nine people died and about 700 were sickened.

Congressional investigators found that the Blakely plant had not been inspected in years.

The outbreak resulted in the largest food recall in U.S. history and cost the peanut industry an estimated $1 billion or more in lost production and sales. Peanut Corp., which was based in Lynchburg, Va., went out of business.

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) said he was concerned the bill wasn't extensive enough to properly monitor companies such as peanut processing plants.

But Isakson and other co-sponsors said the legislation creates a system that is manageable and enforceable, if not perfect.

"What the bill includes is doable," he said.

The bill, SB 510, is called the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act.