Vice President Joe Biden, flanked by Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, announced the administration’s Food Safety Working Group recommendations Tuesday in an effort to better coordinate and modernize the country's food safety system. Senior Vice President of Public Policy Robert Guenther attended this meeting representing United Fresh.

In March of this year, President Obama announced the formation of this working group to coordinate federal efforts and develop short- and long-term agendas to make food safer. The group was co-chaired by Secretary Sebelius and Secretary Vilsack and was charged with presenting recommendations on how to upgrade U.S. food safety laws, coordinate food safety efforts throughout the government and ensure laws are being adequately enforced.

On May 13, the working group held a listening session with participation from state and local governments, representatives from the food industry, consumer advocates and other experts. United Fresh President and CEO Tom Stenzel was invited to participate in the day-long listening and subsequent breakout sessions.

In December of last year, United Fresh also met with the Obama Administration Food Safety Transition Team to offer recommendations on regulatory and policy changes that should be considered. Tuesday’s briefing included the following recommendations made by the administration that would impact the produce industry:

• By the end of July, FDA will issue commodity-specific draft guidance on preventive controls that industry can implement to reduce the risk of microbial contamination in the production and distribution of tomatoes, melons, and leafy greens. These proposals will help the federal government establish a minimum standard for production across the country. Over the next two years, FDA will seek public comment and work to require adoption of these approaches through regulation.
• Within three months, FDA will issue draft guidance on steps the food industry can take to establish product tracing systems to improve our national capacity for detecting the origins of foodborne illness.
• Within three months, Federal agencies will implement a new incident command system to address outbreaks of foodborne illness. This approach will link all relevant agencies, as well as state and local governments, more effectively, facilitating communication and decision-making in an emergency.
• Later this month, federal food safety agencies will ask state and local agencies to update their emergency operations procedures to be consistent with the new Guidelines for Foodborne Disease Outbreak Response soon to be issued by the Council to Improve Foodborne Outbreak Response. Implementation of these guidelines will lead to quicker response, better communication, and better coordination by all federal, state, and local agencies.
• Also later this month, FDA will establish the deputy commissioner for foods, a new position to oversee and coordinate all of the administration's efforts on food, including food safety. This position, reporting to the commissioner, will be empowered to restructure and revitalize FDA’s activities and work with the Food Safety Inspection Service and other agencies in developing a new food safety system.

To see a full list of the administration’s recommendations, please click here.

"Today's White House announcement demonstrates how the government and the food industry can work together to make meaningful and practical food safety improvements," said Stenzel. "The administration's plan embraces several key recommendations advanced by United Fresh to help ensure that food safety initiatives address produce industry priorities."

"These recommendations set a strong foundation for the food safety legislative work on Capitol Hill," said Robert Guenther, senior vice president for public policy at United Fresh. "We have been successful in making critical improvements in the House food safety bill and look forward to working with the Senate and the Obama Administration to help drive improvements in our nation’s food safety practices."