Full-year Continuing Appropriations Act, 2011

Floor Speech

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Mr. PALLONE. Thank you, Chairman Dingell, and thank you for all the work you've done on this bill and so many other bills.

There shouldn't be any more time for delay. Every time we have a food safety crisis, be it eggs or spinach or pepper or peanuts, we shake our heads at the vulnerability of our food supply and bemoan the fact that we don't have the tools to protect it. And these aren't isolated instances. Each year 76 million Americans are sickened from consuming contaminated food, and 5,000 of these people die.

Is the bill we're going to vote on today perfect? Certainly not. But it's a bill that we can all be proud of. The Food Safety Act would give the FDA the ability, the authority, and the resources to protect American consumers from contaminated food.

FDA will now better ensure food safety through more frequent inspection of food processing facilities, the development of a food trace-back system to pinpoint the source of food-borne illness, and enhanced powers to ensure that imported foods are safe.

Perhaps most notably, the bill emphasizes prevention and safety that helps ensure that food is safe before it's distributed, before it reaches store shelves, before it reaches the kitchens of American families.

We have the most productive and most efficient food distribution system in the world, but we need to make sure that we have the safest food supply. American families need to know the food they select from grocery stores and the meals they put on their kitchen tables are safe.

We started this job in the House. Let's finish it today.

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