• December 20, 2010

Late Sunday (Dec. 19), the Senate unanimously voted to pass a corrected version of the Food Safety Modernization Act and sent it on to the House. The version passed three weeks ago by the Senate had been in limbo because the draft mistakenly included tax provisions that by law must originate in the House.

Senate majority leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) led the push to save the bill after receiving a letter from  The American Public Health Association, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), Consumers Union and other consumer groups urging passage. CSPI called the Senate's passage a "huge victory for consumers, following a weekend cliffhanger" in which the groups feared the bill would die.

The Act includes significantly expanded regulation of practices by large U.S. food producers and food importers, as well as significantly expanded authority for the Food and Drug Adminstration to monitor and enforce saftey practices through inspections.  The FDA would also for the first time have the power to force food recalls.