United Fresh Produce Association President and CEO Tom Stenzel releases the following statement on today’s passage of the Food Safety Enhancement Act (H.R. 2749) by the U.S. House of Representatives on a vote of 283 to 142:

“United Fresh is gratified by the House passage of this landmark food safety legislation, which contains several important provisions designed to improve our nation’s food safety and help bolster consumer confidence in the food supply. United Fresh is largely supportive of the bill, which has received broad bipartisan support. Over the past two years, United Fresh has supported congressional action on food safety and appreciates the opportunity to provide critical input to lawmakers in development of the bill.

“The bill includes several important improvements, as advocated by United Fresh, including:

• Strengthened the bill’s commodity-specific approach to produce;
• Ensured that FDA would work with USDA, state departments of agriculture and other agencies in implementing all produce provisions;
• Kept a mandate for traceability across all foods, but without prescriptive dictates that could have set back work on our current Produce Traceability Initiative;
• Exempted produce from any duplicative requirements for country of origin labeling;
• Enhanced the ability of fresh processors to develop individual HACCP programs without rigid one-size fits-all mandates;
• Assured equal treatment of imported and domestic produce in food safety standards;
• Ensured tighter control of potential FDA geographic quarantine authority, requiring an imminent threat to take such action and coordination with USDA; and,
• Capped registration fees for both facilities and importers. 

“While United is supportive of these improvements to H.R. 2749, there are still important issues that we will address with the Senate as it begins its work on food safety legislation later this year. We look forward to continued bipartisan support and industry cooperation to ensure passage of sound, scientific food safety legislation that can benefit all Americans.”