Personal Injury Law

President Obama's 2011 Budget - Where does Food Safety Stand?

By Bill Marler

I am spending the day reviewing the President's 2011 Budget for where food safety is heading.  Here is an outline from the Budget Narrative.  I am still working on the actual numbers.

Food Safety and Inspection Service

Enhances Food Safety. The President's Budget takes important steps to improve the safety of the Nation's supply of meat, poultry, and processed egg products and works to make certain that these products are wholesome and accurately labeled and packaged. Consistent with the recommendations of the President's Food Safety Working Group, the Budget supports increasing regulatory testing and baseline studies and strengthening USDA's Public Health Epidemiology Program to support the inter-agency Federal-State Foodborne Disease Outbreak Response Team. These efforts will contribute toward a reduction in foodborne illness and improvements in public health and safety.

From a FSIS Press Release:

Provides over $1 billion ($1.028 billion to be exact) for the Food Safety and Inspection Service, including an increase of $27 million to more quickly identify and respond to outbreaks of foodborne illness as recommended by the President's Food Safety Working Group.

Food and Drug Administration

Bolsters the Safety of our Food and Medicines. The Budget provides $2.5 billion in budget authority and $4.0 billion in total program resources for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The Budget enables FDA to implement the core principles recommended by the President's Food Safety Working Group: prioritizing prevention; strengthening surveillance and enforcement; and improving response and recovery. The Budget also includes increases to bring more safe, effective, and lower cost generic drugs and generic biologics to market, expand post-market safety surveillance of medical products, and support FDA's efforts to make such safety data more comprehensive and accessible to patients, providers, and scientists in a way that also protects privacy.

From an FDA Press Release:

Transforming Food Safety (+ $318.3 million)

The Transforming Food Safety Initiative reflects President Obama's vision of a new food safety system to protect the American public. The FDA will set standards for safety, expand laboratory capacity, pilot track and trace technology, strengthen its import safety program, improve data collection and risk analysis and begin to establish an integrated national food safety system with strengthened inspection and response capacity. (Note: $79.8 million is from budgetary authority and $238 million is from - yet passed - users fees).

Full post as published by Marler Blog on February 01, 2010 (boomark / email).