Congress considers legislation to harmonise food safety laws
been submitted to the House of Congress for consideration.
The National Uniformity for Food Act will harmonize existing state and federal laws to create a uniform system for issuing food safety alerts.
It could ease the regulatory burden for food companies with operations and sales in a variety states. Currently food companies must consider all the various state laws in operation when releasing products for sale. Under the current system, food regulation is composed of a variety of different, and sometimes inconsistent requirements.
The bill amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act by expanding the existing national uniformity requirement for food labeling provisions in section 403A to include food adulteration provisions. It also adds a new section that specifically requires uniformity in food safety warning notification requirements.
Under the uniformity requirement provision any and all forms of warnings imposed on the industry related to food or to any constituent of food is required to be uniform throughout the country. No state or political subdivision is permitted to require a warning relating to food, including any component or package of the food, unless the specific warning has been required by Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the state warning is identical to the FDA warning.
National uniformity is not applied to food sanitation, a responsibility traditionally held by state governments. The legislation also ensures that state governments retain their enforcement authority so that they can continue to act quickly in the event of a food safety emergency.
In addition the bill covers a procedure for granting exemptions from national uniformity requirements and for adopting state requirements as national standards.
It recognizes the authority of state regulators in taking immediate action to address an imminent hazard to health. It also determines that the legislation has no effect on product liability law.
The House's Energy and Commerce committee voted in favor of the draft legislation, coded as HR 4167, by a vote of 30 to 18 on December 15.
The bill reportedly has strong bi-partisan support in the 220-member Congress. The legislation will require food companies to provide consumers with accurate, consistent information about the safety of their products.
The bill is endorsed by the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) and the Food Products Association.
"The markup of this legislation by the House Energy and Commerce Committee marks an important step forward in providing uniform, national standards and warning requirements for foods," FPA spokesperson Hunt Shipman stated. "Consumers in all states deserve consistent, science-based standards governing warning requirements associated with labeling, advertising and other forms of communication by food companies."
National uniformity is not a new concept, the GMA noted in applauding the committee's passage of the bill. Congress has repeatedly recognized the importance of uniformity in food regulation through the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act (1990), the Food Quality Protection Act (1996), the Poultry Products Inspection Act and the Meat Inspection Act.
The bill defines the term `notification requirement' to include any mandatory disclosure requirement relating to the dissemination of information about a food by a manufacturer or distributor of a food in any manner, such as through a label, labeling, poster, public notice, advertising, or any other means of communication.
