Sec. 2. Findings; purposes
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Congress finds that— the safety of the food supply of the United States is vital to the public health, public confidence in the food supply, and the success of the food sector of the economy of the United States; lapses in the protection of the food supply and the loss of public confidence that results from foodborne illness outbreaks and food recalls are damaging to consumers and the food industry, and place a burden on interstate commerce and international trade; the Food Safety and Inspection Service of the Department of Agriculture has jurisdiction over meat, poultry, and egg products; events recent to the date of enactment of this Act demonstrate that the food safety system administered by the Food Safety and Inspection Service is not effective in controlling risk in regulated food; and these events have adversely affected consumer confidence; new and emerging pathogens such as antibiotic-resistant Salmonella, and enterohemorrhagic
(EHEC)Shiga toxin-producing serotypes of Escherichia coli (E. coli) place an increasing number of people at high risk for foodborne illness; several court decisions, relying on outdated understandings of the risks and nature of microbiological contaminants, have issued rulings that impose barriers to reasonable efforts by the Food Safety and Inspection Service to prevent foodborne illness; Federal food safety standard setting, inspection, enforcement, and research efforts should be based on the best available science and public health considerations, and food safety resources should be deployed in ways that most effectively prevent foodborne illness; the Federal Meat Inspection Act ( 21 U.S.C. 601 et seq. ) was first enacted in 1907, the Poultry Products Inspection Act ( 21 U.S.C. 451 et seq. ) was first enacted in 1957, and the last substantial amendment to those laws occurred 44 years before the date of enactment of this Act; Congress passed the Department of Agriculture Reorganization Act of 1994 (7 U.S.C. 6901 et seq.), establishing the office of the Under Secretary of Agriculture for Food Safety in order to centralize and modernize the food safety system at the Department of Agriculture; and improving Federal oversight of food safety requires a modern food safety mandate and clear authorities to effectively protect the public from foodborne diseases associated with the products that the Food Safety and Inspection Service regulates. The purposes of this Act are— to establish an effective, preventive food safety system administered by the Food Safety and Inspection Service— to regulate food safety and labeling to strengthen the protection of the public health; to focus new attention on pathogens of public health significance, such as EHEC, including Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC), and Salmonella strains, including strains that are antibiotic resistant; and to participate with the Food and Drug Administration in an integrated, systemwide approach to food safety and to make more effective and efficient use of resources to prevent foodborne illness; to modernize and strengthen the Federal food safety system to ensure more effective application and efficient management of the laws for the protection and improvement of public health; and to establish that food establishments have responsibility to ensure that all stages of production, processing, and distribution of the products of the food establishments, or under the control of the food establishments, satisfy the requirements of this Act.
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