Other issues delay Senate food safety
Published on
06/01/2010 11:43AM
Senate food safety legislation is getting squeezed by a tight Congressional calendar and a contentious battle over a pending amendment to the bill by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., to restrict the use of the chemical Bisphenol A (known as BPA) in food and beverage containers.
Senate consideration of the food safety reform bill S. 510 may be pushed back from the second week of June to later in the month, said Kate Fitzgerald, senior policy associate with the Washington, D.C-based National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition.
Kelli Ludlum, director of congressional relations for the Washington, D.C.-based American Farm Bureau Federation said that floor time for the legislation is also becoming an issue for food safety legislation.
“The later they move into the year, the more crowded the calendar becomes,” she said.
Ludlum said that it appears that a traceability-related amendment expected from Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, will not be part of the manager’s amendment and instead will be offered as a floor amendment.
“I think there is going to be pretty good agreement on the language of it, so I don’t anticipate that it will be controversial,” she said.
Fitzgerald said that it is the hope and expectation of the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition that the manager’s amendment will give the Food and Drug Administration flexibility in implementing regulations for small and mid-sized farms.
She believes an amendment by Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., to exempt operations with adjusted gross incomes under $500,000 from some requirements under the legislation will be in the manager’s amendment.
The Washington, D.C.-based United Fresh Produce Association and Farm Bureau have expressed problems with that language.
“We have concerns about exemptions based solely on size,” Ludlum said.
However, she said Senate leaders are looking at the bill closely to mitigate the burden on small producers.
The Washington, D.C.-based Grocery Manufacturers Association and other food industry groups oppose Feinstein’s amendment and insist that all current science and regulation indicates BPA is safe in canned foods. However, Ludlum said there is no indication so far that Feinstein is willing to back down on the issue.
“There is still a bipartisan agreement in the Senate to move (food safety legislation) forward, but they have run into trouble regarding Sen. Feinstein’s amendment to ban BPA in certain infant products and phase it out of other consumer products,” Ludlum said.
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