Support The Safe Food Act

Urge Congress To Establish A Federal Food Safety Agency

December 1997

Something is wrong with our food safety system. Americans are told we have the safest food supply in the world, but food contamination problems are becoming almost routine. Consider that:

25 million of tons of hamburger potentially contaminated with E. coli was recalled this summer,

about 170 children were diagnosed with Hepatitis A after being served contaminated strawberries in public school lunches,

more than a thousand people got sick after eating imported raspberries containing the parasite cyclospora,

in the last two years tainted apple cider, lettuce, and sprouts have caused serious illness and even death,

twenty-three people died and hundreds more became ill after eating bad oysters,

four children died in 1992-93 from E. coli contaminated fast-food hamburgers,

every year up to 33 million people suffer from food poisoning, and,

more than 9,000 Americans die a year from eating contaminated food

Clearly, too much contaminated food is finding its way onto our plates and into our stomachs. Part of the problem is the patchwork nature of our food safety system. Multiple agencies -- U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) -- are in charge of ensuring a safe food supply. But the current system lacks accountability and consistency. For instance, meat inspectors from the USDA inspect a plant every day, but the FDA inspects equally hazardous food plants, like seafood and eggs, on average once every 10 years.

What we need is a single agency with one mission: ensuring that all the food we eat is safe. This new agency could combine the inspection, food safety, food additive approval, and labeling functions of the federal government. That would maximize public health protections, make better use of limited public and private resources, and reduce the risk that contaminated food could make its way from the farm to the fork. Bottom line, it would mean safer food.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

You can help establish a single federal food safety agency. The Safe Food Act would establish a Food Safety Administration. Contact your members of Congress today and urge them to become cosponsors of this important piece of legislation.

A sample letter is below. Use it as an outline to write your own personalized letter. To e-mail your members of Congress click here. Or write to Rep. ______________, U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. 20515, or Sen. ______________, U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C. 20510. For more information on food safety visit CSPI Documents Library.

Thanks for your interest and help with our food safety campaign. Americans expect and deserve the safest food possible. One way to make that happen is to pass the Safe Food Act of 1997.

Updated December 1997

Dear Rep. or Senator ______________:
I am writing in support of the Safe Food Act. This bill would combine all government food-safety and labeling functions into a single agency.
Our current food safety system is not working. Americans are told we have the safest food supply in the world, but food contamination problems are almost becoming routine. Hamburger potentially contaminated with E. coli, strawberries with Hepatitis A, and imported raspberries containing the parasite cyclospora made headlines -- and lots of people of sick. It's no wonder that almost 33 million people suffer from food poisoning a year and more than 9,000 Americans die every year from eating contaminated food.
Clearly, too much contaminated food is finding its way onto our plates and into our stomachs. The current patchwork nature of our food safety system lacks accountability and consistency. For instance, meat inspectors from the U.S. Department of Agriculture inspect a plant every day, but the FDA inspects equally hazardous food plants, like seafood and eggs, on average once every 10 years.
That's why we need a single agency with one mission: ensuring that all the food we eat is safe. A single food agency would maximize public health protections, make better use of limited public and private resources, and reduce the risk from contaminated food. Bottom line, it would mean safer food.
As my Representative/Senator I urge you to cosponsor the Safe Food Act. Thank you for your time and consideration. Please respond to this request.
Sincerely,

Ima Voter