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Food Safety Policy

Food safety is the produce industry's top priority.  The men and women who grow, pack, and market fresh produce are committed to providing consumers with safe and wholesome foods from field to fork.  Our collective industry is constantly working to enhance and improve our performance in growing crops in the field, harvesting and handling them for distribution, packaging and processing them into convenient ready-to-eat products, and following all protocols to maintain the safest possible delivery chain all the way to the consumer's table.

We understand that each time any fruit or vegetable is implicated in a foodborne illness outbreak, all produce commodity sectors suffer from lost consumer confidence in our industry.  United Fresh is committed to ensuring that if food safety regulation does come to fruition, it is developed and implemented with industry input, so as to provide pragmatic food safety guidelines and limited costs to industry.

United Fresh Produce Association is engaged in the food safety debate with Members of Congress on Capitol Hill, key personnel at both FDA and USDA, and industry leaders.

Background

Recent events have led to the produce industry considering what role the federal government should play in managing food safety requirements for produce. This has been driven by Congress, which has paid a significant amount of attention to food safety and the responsibility of the federal government often citing that "the food laws in this country have not been updated for over 70 years." 

The fresh produce industry has been at the core of developing comprehensive food safety programs for many years.  In fact the first Food Safety Guidelines for the Fresh-Cut Produce Industry was published 16 years ago in 1992, and was just updated by FDA in February 2008.  The industry also developed industry Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) in the mid 1990s to minimize on-farm microbiological food safety risks for fruit and vegetables, and worked closely with FDA as the agency published its overarching GAPs document in 1998.  This has led to multiple commodity specific food safety guidelines programs for tomatoes, melons, sprouts, and leafy greens.  Put simply, food safety has been at the forefront of our industry’s commitment to serve the American public for many years. 

At its Board of Director's meeting January 20, 2007, United Fresh Produce Association first adopted a statement of principles and policy support for federal oversight of clear and strong produce safety standards based on the best available science.  At their subsequent meeting in May, this policy position was reviewed and again endorsed, with the adoption of the following resolution supporting these guiding principles for a food safety regulatory framework for produce:

To protect public health and ensure consumer confidence, produce safety standards:

  • Must allow for a commodity-specific approach, based on the best available science.
  • Must be consistent and applicable to the identified commodity or commodity sector, no matter where grown or packed in the United States, or imported into the country.
  • Must be federally mandated with sufficient federal oversight of compliance in order to be most credible to consumers.

Current Status

During the past two years, United has monitored and helped block over 100 legislative proposals on food safety in Congress.  In addition, United leaders have testified often in Congressional oversight hearings on recent outbreaks, food safety practices and traceability.  Yet 2009 has brought greater urgency and movement on food safety legislation and regulation that United must address.  Because of the increased scrutiny of our nation’s food safety policy, United Fresh has approved four strategic policy objectives for 2009.  These include:

  • Shape food safety legislation in the House and Senate to reflect United Fresh food safety policy principles and consensus policy provisions among our membership. 
  • Ensure that any new regulations proposed and implemented on food safety are based on sound scientific principles and meet produce industry needs. 
  • Work with FDA and CDC to implement a new framework for foodborne illness investigations, applying lessons learned from recent challenges. 
  • Ensure that fresh produce safety research funding is allocated according to industry stakeholders' prioritized needs. 

In September of 2008 the United Fresh Board of Directors and the United Fresh Government Relations Council approved a resolution calling for the development of a food safety working group to provide a comprehensive overview of the association’s key food safety policy priorities. This ad hoc Food Safety Working Group was charged with leading the produce food safety policy debate and developing a set of policy recommendations that could bring the industry closer to a comprehensive food safety program and toward achieving a stronger fresh produce industry.

In December and January, the United Fresh Government Relations Council and the Food Safety and Technology Council along with United Fresh's Board of Directors reviewed and approved a white paper developed by the Food Safety Working Group, which identifies key food safety policies and provides recommendations to congressional and Administration decision makers on how to best craft policies that enhance produce industry initiatives already in place.  In turn, this white paper provides the foundation for United to negotiate with Congress and the Administration on specific policy recommendations with confidence and support from broad industry stakeholder groups.  To review the food safety white paper, please use the following link.

On June 15, 2009, the House Energy and Commerce Committee passed H.R.2749, the Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009.  The legislation will fundamentally change food safety law in this country, including providing the Food and Drug Administration additional authorities and resources to oversee the safety of the nation's food supply.  The legislation also increases industry's responsibility for overseeing the safety of their own products and provides FDA with new and enhanced tools to hold them accountable when they fail.   These tools include mandatory recall authority, increased fines and penalties, access to records, and an annual registration fee for importers and food facilities.  The legislation also includes commodity specific produce standards and flexibility for industry to utilize best practices/innovation in traceability programs.  The bill will now be considered by the full House of Representatives sometime in July.  Once that is passed, the food safety debate will turn to the Senate where Senator Durbin (D-IL) has the lead bill, S.510, the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act. 

Links:

Key Legislative Bills Introduced in Congress

Rep. Henry Waxman: H.R.2749 - The Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009 (passed by House Committee on Energy and Commerce)

Rep. Rosa DeLauro: H.R.875 - Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009

Rep. John Dingell: H.R.759 - Food and Drug Administration Globalization Act of 2009

Rep. Jim Costa/Rep. Adam Putnam: H.R.1332 - Safe FEAST Act of 2009

Senator Richard Durbin (IL): S.510 - FDA Food Safety Modernization Act

United Fresh Testimony and Correspondence before Congress and Regulatory Agencies

Testimony

Regulatory Comments

Additional Resources

 
United Fresh Produce Association
1901 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Suite 1100
Washington, DC 20006
Tel: 202 303 3400
Fax: 202 303 3433
united@unitedfresh.org
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