Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) introduced the Study And Framework for Efficiency in Food Oversight and Organizational Design (SAFE FOOD) Act, legislation that would direct the Department of Agriculture to conduct a study on the consolidation of federal agencies that have a primary role in ensuring food safety into a single agency.
The Bill states that not later than 60 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Agriculture shall conduct a study on the consolidation of Federal agencies with a primary role in ensuring food safety in the United States (including the Food Safety and Inspection Service, the Food and Drug Administration, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) into a single agency.
Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Agriculture shall submit to the appropriate committees of Congress a report containing the results of the study; and any recommendations of the Secretary of Agriculture with respect to the consolidation.
Full text of the bill may be found here.
Related Articles
-
FDA, CDC and the USDA’s FSIS have jointly released a report on the new method for analyzing outbreak data to identify better foods that are responsible for illness related to four major foodborne bacteria.
-
The FDA conducts approximately 12,000 domestic inspections and 3,000 foreign inspections each year in more than 90 countries. U.S. manufacturers undergo frequent, unannounced inspections, foreign firms have often had weeks to prepare, undermining the integrity of the oversight process.
-
The FDA will provide its critical expertise in regulatory science and NIH will provide the infrastructure for the solicitation, review and management of scientific research.
-
As food companies move away from expensive imports, domestic growers and manufacturers may experience demand surges, creating a fundamental safety challenge where production pressures increase faster than the food safety infrastructure. Increased Capacity Leads to Increase Risks. Food Fraud, Supply…
-
Since February, roughly 3,500 F.D.A. jobs, about 20 percent, were eliminated, representing one of the largest work force reductions among all government agencies targeted by the Trump administration. How many fired employees will be permitted to return remained unclear.
-
FSIS received 7,089 comments on the proposed framework during the comment period, which closed on January 17, 2025. Most of the comments were submitted as part of organized letter writing campaigns, while 1,415 were unique comment letters. The Agency believes…
