Families Touched by Foodborne Illness Ask Congress to Increase Food Safety Funding
Families whose loved ones have been sickened by contaminated food are urging Congress to increase the Food and Drug Administration’s FY2015 budget for implementation of the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, or FSMA. Passed with bipartisan support four years ago, the act shifts FDA’s focus from reacting to foodborne illness outbreaks to preventing them. FDA estimates it needs an additional $300 million over the next two years to carry out its responsibilities under FSMA, which include helping farmers and food processors follow safe practices.
More than 75 Americans from 33 states signed a letter delivered today to the chairmen and ranking members of the congressional committees that allocate funding to FDA. They wrote:
We are the individuals and their loved ones whose lives were forever changed by contaminated food, and we are committed to ensuring that not one more person suffers in the same way.
Each year, an estimated 1 in 6 Americans gets sick from food tainted with pathogens such as Salmonella and E. coli, and 3,000 people die from these illnesses annually. Since FSMA was enacted, there have been 28 reported multistate outbreaks of foodborne illness linked to FDA regulated products.
Download the Letter (PDF)
November 10, 2014
The Honorable Harold Rogers,
Chairman
House Committee on Appropriations
The Capitol, Room H-305
Washington, DC 20515
The Honorable Nita M. Lowey,
Ranking Member
House Committee on Appropriations, Minority
1016 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
The Honorable Barbara A. Mikulski,
Chairman
Senate Committee on Appropriations
The Capitol, Room S-128
Washington, DC 20514
The Honorable Richard C. Shelby,
Ranking Member
Senate Committee on Appropriations, Minority
The Capitol, Room S-146A
Washington, DC 20514
Dear Chairman Rogers and Mikulski and Ranking Members Lowey and Shelby:
As Congress continues to consider funding for Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) food safety budget, we hope you will keep in mind the estimated 48 million Americans who are sickened annually by foodborne illness. We, the undersigned, are the names behind the statistics. We are the individuals and their loved ones whose lives were forever changed by contaminated food, and we are committed to ensuring that not one more person suffers in the same way.
In passing the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), Congress empowered the agency to prevent foodborne illness outbreaks, rather than just react to safety problems after people get sick. With the help of congressionally appropriated funds it has received over the past four years, FDA has made significant progress in implementing FSMA. In order to complete initial implementation, however, FDA estimates that it needs an additional $300 million over the next two years. The American public cannot wait: since FSMA became law, there have been 28 reported multistate outbreaks linked to FDA regulated products.
Fully-funded FSMA implementation will go a long way towards ending these outbreaks and ensuring a safer food supply.
Sincerely yours,
Individuals who have experienced foodborne illness firsthand
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