On the recordDecember 21, 2010
It creates a new focus on prevention, and it shares responsibility between FDA and the food manufacturers so that they can cooperatively work to keep the food supply safe, working together. It also is going to require manufacturers to implement preventive systems to stop outbreaks before they occur, and it is going to allow our Food and Drug Administration, for the first time in history, to police and to protect the entry into this country of foods coming from abroad, where most of the peril to our American consumers lie. It also is going to allow our investigators and Food and Drug people to see to it, and this is a word of art, that the American law with regard to good manufacturing practices is carried forward in those other lands so that bad food cannot originate elsewhere and then come in to the United States because of shoddy manufacturing practices. It gives Food and Drug power to ensure that foreign importers meet U.S. standards, and it will assure that foreign growers and producers will be treated with the same care and attention that American growers and producers are so our growers and producers can know that they are facing an even and level playing field. It gives FDA new enforcement tools, mandatory recall authority, authority to detain tainted products, and protections for employees who serve as whistleblowers. This legislation is long overdue. It will address a situation which is shameful.
