FSMA’s effectiveness is questioned
President Obama signed the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) nearly a year ago, but whether the new law will be fully implemented anytime soon remains an open question. The law, which expands FDA’s authority, requires additional funding. Republicans, who control the US House of Representatives, are demanding budget cuts and have balked at the idea of increasing funding for FDA.
Dennis T. Avery, a senior fellow for the Hudson Institute in Washington, DC and an environmental economist, suggests that even with unlimited FDA funding, the new law would not provide that much protection. In a recent guest column for Ag Weekly, Avery notes that salmonella bacteria are everywhere and that USDA inspectors say they have never visited a cattle farm where they did not find E. coli O157: H7.