Senate Passes Food Safety Legislation

legacy/foodsafety-1.jpg

 The United States is among the most developed nations in the world, but over the course of the last years, we have had a large number of food safety issues—some of which have resulted in hospitalizations and deaths. Many pointed their finger at the FDA, who I believe has the responsibility of regulating the food and drugs we consume, and now the US Senate has passed legislation which will hopefully help make the food that we eat much safer for all of us. 

The legislation—if the same version is passed in the House of Representatives—will help food safety in a number of ways.

• The FDA will now have the ability to recall “tainted foods”.
• The big food giants will be required by law to work with the FDA in order to create “Food Safety Plans”.
• Imported foods will be much more regulated than they are now.
• Food  Facilities will now be inspected more often—at least once every three years.

Meat, poultry, and processed eggs are not under the jurisdiction of the FDA, so will not be subject to the new regulations.

The House of Representatives passed a similar version of the law earlier this year; however, small farmers had reservations about the legislation and feared that they would go under if they were required to meet all of the regulations, so the House will have to pass an amended version. 

As person who likes the idea of eating safer food, I am looking at the legislation as a positive step for the United States and the safety of the food we at. However, not everybody feels the same way towards food safety or the legislation. As Jon Stewart points out, even though the legislation passed easily through the Senate, conservative pundits still found fault with the legislation based on the fact that there would be more frequent inspections of food and that we shouldn’t have the government involved in any kinds of regulation of our food.

Glenn Beck and others are a little too concerned that the government control of our food will lead to something sinister—I believe the opposite is true—I’d personally prefer it if the government had more authority to recall tainted food and keep our shelves safe.

Watch the following clip from the Daily Show to the end to see some very good reasons why we need our food regulated in the United States.