Food Safety Act in Jeopardy of Stalling Out

Nov. 3, 2010 /EIN Presswire/ -- Food safety advocates were mulling the results of Tuesday's elections for signs that may help or hurt passage of food safety legislation this year.

The bill, S. 510, already has passed the House. A similar version is pending in the Senate. Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa, chairman of the Senate health committee, said before the election that 90 senators have expressed support for the measure.

Nevertheless, with a full agenda waiting the lame duck session that will convene later this month, many food safety groups are concerned there may not be time to move the bill through the Senate and get it to the President's desk. The measure's fate would be uncertain at best with the congressional lineup elected Tuesday.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid had scheduled a cloture vote on the bill before the Senate recessed to campaign.

It seems long ago, July 2009 in fact, that the House passed its version of the food safety bill. The Senate bill modifies the House bill to reduce regulatory burdens on small farms and food facilities but is roughly similar in its major provisions.

If the bill isn't enacted, the Obama administration is expected to attempt to invoke many of its regulations through administrative action.

For more food safety news, visit Food Safety News Today (http://foodsafety.einnews.com), a food safety media monitoring service from EIN News.