Durbin, DeLauro introduce bill to create new food safety agency

A pair of senior House and Senate Democrats are offering legislation that would spin off the existing food safety functions of the Food and Drug Administration into a new, separate federal agency. The Food Safety Administration Act introduced by Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., would move FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, Center for Veterinary Medicine, and Office of Regulatory Affairs from the to a new Food Safety Administration.  Like the FDA, the new agency would be housed under the Department of Health and Human Services. The bill’s proponents say would elevate food safety oversight at the federal level, something they argue is commonly an afterthought under the existing FDA structure. Read more