House Passes Food Safety Bill, Set For Obama To Sign

House Passes Food Safety Bill, Set For Obama To Sign

Washington (CNN) -- A major food safety bill that passed the House and Senate earlier this year before stalling because of a procedural problem won final approval Tuesday and now goes to President Barack Obama to be signed into law.

The bill, designed to increase government inspections of the food supply in the wake of recent deadly foodborne disease outbreaks, originally passed with wide support in both chambers after originating in the Senate. However, it needed approval again because it violated a constitutional requirement that bills that raise revenue be initiated in the House.

The Senate passed its version of the Food Safety Modernization Act on Sunday, and the House voted 215-144 for final approval on Tuesday in one of the final sessions of the lame-duck Congress.

The bill, which represents the most sweeping overhaul of the food safety system since 1938, allows for greater governmental regulation of the U.S. food system -- currently in the national spotlight for numerous egg and produce recalls.

Among its provisions, the bill gives the federal Food and Drug Administration the authority to issue direct recalls of foods that are suspected to be tainted, rather than relying on individual producers to issue recalls voluntarily.

Currently, the FDA can negotiate with companies, but has no power to enact a mandatory recall.

It also requires food producers to develop written food safety plans, accessible by the government in case of emergency.

Under the measure, the secretary of Health and Human Services would be required to create a food tracing system that would quickly focus on the source of contamination should an outbreak occur. It also requires food importers to verify the safety of all imported foods to make sure they are in accordance with U.S. food safety guidelines.

In the Senate version, an amendment sponsored by Democratic Sen. Jon Tester of Montana exempted relatively small-scale producers that sell most of their food directly to consumers within their state or within a 275-mile radius of where it was produced.

Tester had called his amendment a "win for anyone who eats food," noting the local food processors still would be responsible for demonstrating that they had identified potential hazards and were implementing preventive controls to address the hazards, or demonstrating to the FDA that they were in compliance with state or local food safety laws.

From M.o.1 --- I ask you.....what did all of your "calling your Congressman do" and what did your letters do? NOTHING! That is the nature of this beast...all of you thinking that your politicians give two shits about you are living in a fantasy land.....plain and simple. This war has been waged for decades yet no one even is paying attention to what is going on. I keep hearing "wait for them to fire the first shot" but I ask you....how many "first shots" do they need to fire before people do something?

Right after posting this and right underneath the original article about the bill passing.....they throw out the propaganda:


Washington (CNN) -- The al Qaeda group that built two toner-cartridge bombs in an unsuccessful attempt to blow up planes in October also has contemplated spreading poison on salad bars and buffets at U.S. hotels and restaurants, U.S. officials told CNN Tuesday.

But U.S. officials sought to downplay the threat -- first reported by CBS News -- saying it was months old, and that it was more in the nature of a discussion of "tactics" than an actual plot. Officials implied the tactic is beyond the capabilities of the terrorist organization, which is based in the Middle East.

The United States has received information the group -- al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula -- was considering the tactic of placing ricin and cyanide poisons into food supplies, Department of Homeland Security officials confirmed to CNN.

In response to that information, U.S. officials met through regular channels with representatives of the hotel and restaurant businesses to discuss the possibility that terrorists could target the food supply, and to reiterate "best practices" to ensure the food supply is safe.

Officials, however, likened the threat to numerous others discussed in jihadist publications such as the online magazine Inspire, where al Qaeda members and sympathizers discuss various ways to attack Western countries.

"We're talking months, not weeks (ago), that this came into the threat stream," one official said.

Representatives of the Food and Agriculture Sector Government Coordinating Council, the office the government uses to distribute threat information to the food industry, referred CNN's calls to the Department of Homeland Security.

A U.S. official told CNN Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr, "We're aware that terrorists have been interested in doing this kind of thing for a long time. They've said as much and, as a result, we take all of this very seriously. But we don't know of any current plotting along these lines."

The CBS report quoted an unnamed intelligence source saying the threat was "credible."

Homeland Security officials' only comment came in response to the CBS report.

"We are not going to comment on reports of specific terrorist planning. However, the counterterrorism and homeland security communities have engaged in extensive efforts for many years to guard against all types of terrorist attacks, including unconventional attacks using chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear materials," spokesman Sean Smith said in the prepared statement.

"Indeed, (al Qaeda) has publicly stated its intention to try to carry out unconventional attacks for well over a decade, and AQAP propaganda in the past year has made similar reference. Finally, we get reports about the different kinds of attacks terrorists would like to carry out that frequently are beyond their assessed capability," the statement said.

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, was behind the October attack on two cargo planes. The group created bombs out of printer toner cartridges, but the devices were discovered and disarmed before they detonated. AQAP also has claimed credit for the September 6 crash of a UPS cargo plane in Dubai, but U.S. authorities say there is no evidence they played a role in the crash.

This food safety bill is like the biggest joke ever. They have been poisoning our food supply for many years with aspartame and other substances. And they never, ever talk about the radiation from microwave ovens, what microwaved food really does to the body, and all the toxic substances we have consumed from packaging that is designed to be microwaved with the food. And of course, if we dare complain that we don't feel well from eating a poisoned, toxic diet, they tell us it's all in our heads.