U.S. Rep Gabrielle Giffords Praises House Passage of Landmark Bill Aimed at Protecting Children and Families from Contaminated Food

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U.S. Rep Gabrielle Giffords Praises House Passage of Landmark Bill Aimed at Protecting Children and Families from Contaminated Food

Legislation gives FDA new tools to combat outbreaks of food-borne illness

U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords today joined a bipartisan coalition in the House to support landmark legislation aimed at protecting children and families from contaminated food.

"Every year, 5,000 Americans die and more than 70 million get sick because they ate contaminated food," said Giffords. "These are not random, unpreventable occurrences but the sad result of a flawed food safety system. Fixing this system is the goal of the bill we voted on today."

Giffords was among 283 lawmakers - 229 Democrats and 54 Republicans - to vote for the Food Safety Enhancement Act. The bill now goes before the Senate for consideration.

The Food Safety Enhancement Act is strongly supported by consumer groups and President Obama. It was prompted by a series of illness outbreaks that were caused by contaminated peppers, peanuts, pistachios, and cookie dough. In May, Arizonans were impacted by a recall of contaminated beef from Idaho and red pork tamale products from New Mexico.

Prior to today's vote, Giffords called on congressional leaders to make sure that the government and agriculture industry work together to prevent food contamination.

"The farmers remain strong allies in the efforts to protect the safety of our nation's food supply," the congresswoman wrote in a July 24 letter to Rep. Henry Waxman, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

The Food Safety Enhancement Act includes several long-overdue repairs to our food safety system, including providing critical new tools and authority to the Food and Drug Administration. Among the bill's main provisions is the requirement that food growers and processors identify the contamination risks they face, create controls to prevent contamination, monitor those controls, test to make sure they are working and update those measures regularly.

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