Food Safety Bill Heads to Senate Next Week

Posted by Andrew on 15 April 2010 | 0 Comments

Tags: News, IBWA

Next week figures to be a huge week for the bottled water industry as the Food Safety Modernization Act heads to the Senate for consideration next week. There are several parts of the proposed bill that will impact water bottlers in the country, including the proposed BPA amendment that we have previously discussed.

 

The Food Safety Modernization Act (S. 510) will be considered on the U.S. Senate floor early next week. For the first time in almost a century, significant updates could be made to the federal food safety laws. The legislation's provisions include requirements for food companies to develop and use food safety plans to mitigate risks for potential contamination and to verify the effectiveness of the plans. In addition, the bill authorizes the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to assess fees for recalls and re-inspections of food facilities.

 

The bill does not include food facility registration fees, which are included in the U.S. House-passed measure HR 2749.

 

IBWA has been working with a large coalition of food industry organizations and consumer groups on food safety legislation and has expressed support for the current version of S. 510, which has strong bi-partisan support in the Senate.

 

BPA Amendment
While S. 510 is under consideration, amendments are expected. Two issues of interest to the bottled water industry include proposed amendments concerning the traceability of food products and bishpenol A (BPA).

 

Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-CA) has drafted an amendment that would ban the use of BPA in food contact substances after January 1, 2012. IBWA is working with a coalition of interested organizations to oppose the amendment and has sent a Legislative Action Alert to IBWA bottlers and distributors in selected states urging them to contact their senators to express their opposition to the amendment.

 

All IBWA members can use the following website to contact their senators to urge them to oppose a ban on BPA: http://www.capwiz.com/ibwa/issues/alert/?alertid=14917871.

 

Rumors exist of a possible compromise on Sen. Feinstein’s amendment, but language or concepts of that compromise were not available as of this morning. IBWA, along with others in the coalition, support the current FDA process for reviewing the safety of BPA with food products and have urged Congress to support the FDA review of BPA.

 

Food Product Traceability
Changes to the traceability of food products are also being considered that would provide FDA faster access to records and product movement, thus assisting in the removing dangerous product from the market in a quicker time frame. Changes to the traceability provisions are being negotiated with the coalition and bi-partisan support in the Senate, unlike the BPA amendment. IBWA is working with the coalition to mitigate the potential administrative burden and costs of any new system. 

 

Source: http://newsmanager.commpartners.com/ibwa/issues/2010-04-15/index.html

 

As the article mentions, this will be the first large scale revision of federal food safety laws in almost a century, and it is shaping up to be an exciting time for the water industry. Hopefully, the proposed BPA amendment will get its fair share of debate, as it could have an enormous impact on many areas of the food industry, and it is important to consider all possible implications of a change regulation. Like the IBWA, we at CapSnap Equipment encourage you to contact your congressional representatives and express your concern regarding the BPA amendment.