II 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1101 

To amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to establish a Food 

Protection Training Institute, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 20, 2009 

Ms. STABENOW (for herself and Mr. LEVIN) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to 

establish a Food Protection Training Institute, and for 

other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Food Protection Train5 ing Institute Act of 2009’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) There is no mandatory Federal training re2 quirement for State, local, tribal, and territorial food 

3 protection officials, and training varies by State. 

4 (2) In June 2000, the Office of the Inspector 

5 General (‘‘OIG’’) of the Department of Health and 

6 Human Services released a report on oversight by 

7 the Food and Drug Administration (‘‘FDA’’) of 

8 State food inspection contracts. In this report the 

9 OIG recommended that FDA take steps to promote 

10 equivalency among Federal and State food safety 

11 standards, inspection programs, and enforcement 

12 practices. 

13 (3) Under contract with the FDA, State em14 ployees perform over half of all FDA inspections at 

15 domestic food processing plants. Inspections are per16 formed under State laws and authorities, the provi17 sions of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, 

18 or both. In fiscal year 2008, States conducted ap19 proximately 10,500 FDA food contract inspections. 

20 Overall, States conduct nearly 80,000 inspections 

21 annually of food processing plants, but the majority 

22 of these inspections are not recognized by FDA as 

23 meeting any standard. 

24 (4) No national accreditation process exists to 

25 assure State and local food protection programs proVerDate Nov 24 2008 01:43 May 22, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1101.IS S1101

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1 vide adequate protections to ensure effectiveness or 

2 equivalency to Federal programs. 

3 SEC. 3. FOOD PROTECTION TRAINING ACTIVITIES AND IN4 STITUTE. 

5 Subchapter D of chapter VII of the Federal Food, 

6 Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 379k et seq.) is 

7 amended by adding at the end the following: 

8 ‘‘SEC. 747. FOOD PROTECTION TRAINING ACTIVITIES AND 

9 INSTITUTE. 

10 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 

11 ‘‘(1) the term ‘food protection’ means govern12 ment regulatory or public health activities and pro13 grams at the Federal, State, or local level that are 

14 targeted at ensuring the safety or defense of the 

15 food supply— 

16 ‘‘(A) from natural, accidental, or inten17 tional contamination; and 

18 ‘‘(B) through prevention, intervention, re19 sponse to food contamination events, or recov20 ery of food systems to restore economic stability 

21 and public confidence after a food contamina22 tion event; 

23 ‘‘(2) the term ‘food protection officials’— 


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1 ‘‘(A) means government employees at the 

2 Federal, State, or local level that have direct re3 sponsibilities for food protection; and 

4 ‘‘(B) includes environmental health work5 ers, sanitarians, food regulatory officials, inves6 tigators, communicable disease workers, epi7 demiologists, laboratory workers, and toxi8 cologists; and 

9 ‘‘(3) the term ‘food regulatory officials’ includes 

10 inspectors responsible for enforcing the food protec11 tion provisions of this Act. 

12 ‘‘(b) AUTHORITY OF THE SECRETARY.— 

13 ‘‘(1) GENERAL DUTIES.—The Secretary shall, 

14 not later than 120 days after the date of enactment 

15 of this section— 

16 ‘‘(A) create a list of uniform food protec17 tion training standards for Federal, State, and 

18 local food regulatory officials and food protec19 tion officials as a part of overall regulatory pro20 gram standards in consultation with— 

21 ‘‘(i) a national association of food pro22 tection officials that has membership open 

23 to food protection officials from all States; 

24 ‘‘(ii) State agencies responsible for 

25 food protection; and 


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1 ‘‘(iii) local agencies responsible for 

2 food protection; and 

3 ‘‘(B) ensure funding is used to advance 

4 food protection and the effectiveness and 

5 equivalency throughout the food protection sys6 tem of the Nation through a responsive and 

7 preventive controls framework in an effort to 

8 build capacity and create a more integrated na9 tional food protection system. 

10 ‘‘(2) DUTIES WITH RESPECT TO THE INSTI11 TUTE.—The Secretary shall, not later than 120 days 

12 after the date of enactment of this section— 

13 ‘‘(A) in cooperation with the organization 

14 described in paragraph (1)(A)(i), provide finan15 cial, technical, and other assistance to establish 

16 and maintain a Food Protection Training Insti17 tute that— 

18 ‘‘(i) conducts training activities that— 

19 ‘‘(I) address food protection in20 spection training standards as di21 rected by the Secretary in paragraph 

22 (1); and 

23 ‘‘(II) meet any program stand24 ards developed by the Secretary under 

25 paragraph (1); 


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1 ‘‘(ii) prior to fiscal year 2010, applied 

2 for determination as, or had been deter3 mined to be, an entity described in section 

4 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 

5 1986; 

6 ‘‘(iii) has demonstrated the resources 

7 to commit to training no less than 750 

8 food protection officials during fiscal year 

9 2010 and no less than 3,000 food protec10 tion officials during fiscal year 2013; and 

11 ‘‘(iv) is governed by a board of direc12 tors that— 

13 ‘‘(I) as of the date of establish14 ment, includes— 

15 ‘‘(aa) a representative from 

16 a national association which has, 

17 as of fiscal year 2010— 

18 ‘‘(AA) tax exempt sta19 tus under section 501(c)(3) 

20 of the Internal Revenue 

21 Code of 1986; 

22 ‘‘(BB) membership 

23 open to food protection offi24 cials from all States; and 


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1 ‘‘(CC) governing offi2 cers who are State food reg3 ulatory program officials; 

4 ‘‘(bb) a representative from 

5 a private foundation with assets 

6 in excess of $5,000,000,000 as of 

7 fiscal year 2010; and 

8 ‘‘(cc) a representative of a 

9 Land Grant university; and 

10 ‘‘(II) as of fiscal year 2010, has 

11 received financial support of at least 

12 $1,000,000 from a private foundation 

13 with assets in excess of 

14 $5,000,000,000; and 

15 ‘‘(B) ensure that the activities conducted 

16 and assistance provided at such Institute at a 

17 minimum include— 

18 ‘‘(i) providing career-specific and ca19 reer-spanning skills training and con20 tinuing education for food protection offi21 cials and food regulatory officials that in22 clude— 

23 ‘‘(I) entry level, core job training; 

24 ‘‘(II) intermediate level and con25 tinuing education training; 


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1 ‘‘(III) advanced level training in 

2 specialized areas of food protection; 

3 and 

4 ‘‘(IV) training of elite or expert 

5 level food protection officials; 

6 ‘‘(ii) developing and using multiple 

7 and advanced training approaches to reach 

8 food protection officials including face-to9 face courses, on-the-job training, multi10 media approaches, distance learning, web11 based courses, and other innovative and ef12 fective methods; 

13 ‘‘(iii) developing criteria and assessing 

14 measurable training outcomes; 

15 ‘‘(iv) developing instructor curriculum 

16 and delivery assessment; 

17 ‘‘(v) assessing and reporting to the 

18 Secretary of efforts leading to leveraging 

19 food protection capability and capacity to 

20 support a national integrated food protec21 tion system; and 

22 ‘‘(vi) establishing methods to provide 

23 timely training in response to emerging 

24 food protection events in order to minimize 

25 public health impacts and recovery. 


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1 ‘‘(c) DUTIES OF THE FOOD PROTECTION TRAINING

2 INSTITUTE.—The Food Protection Training Institute es3 tablished under subsection (b) shall carry out activities to 

4 improve the safety of the United States food supply, in5 cluding— 

6 ‘‘(1) advancing the effectiveness and equiva7 lency throughout the food protection system of the 

8 Nation; 

9 ‘‘(2) improving the response and prevention 

10 controls capabilities of the national food protection 

11 system; 

12 ‘‘(3) building capacity and the integration of 

13 the national food protection system; 

14 ‘‘(4) providing training and technical assistance 

15 with respect to food establishment inspections that 

16 meet any program standards developed by the Sec17 retary under subsection (b)(1); 

18 ‘‘(5) offering onsite and offsite training for food 

19 protection officials from all States; 

20 ‘‘(6) establishing a national network of trained 

21 professionals to present training programs and 

22 workshops for food protection officials; 

23 ‘‘(7) developing training materials for use in 

24 such programs and workshops; 


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1 ‘‘(8) acting as a clearinghouse for research, 

2 studies, and findings concerning all aspects of food 

3 protection programs, including— 

4 ‘‘(A) conducting and funding research to 

5 improve the effectiveness of food establishment 

6 inspection; and 

7 ‘‘(B) conducting and funding research to 

8 improve the effectiveness of the duties of food 

9 protection officials; 

10 ‘‘(9) training food protection officials to comply 

11 with standards established by the Secretary through 

12 a national network of instructors or other means; 

13 ‘‘(10) preparing informational materials to pro14 mote more efficient and thorough food protection in15 spections; 

16 ‘‘(11) assisting State agencies in providing ad17 ditional instructions and instructors, including train18 ing personnel to comply with the guidance and ob19 jectives established by the Secretary; and 

20 ‘‘(12) any other activities determined appro21 priate by the Secretary. 

22 ‘‘(d) ACCOUNTABILITY.— 

23 ‘‘(1) REPORT TO THE SECRETARY.—On an an24 nual basis, the board of directors of the Institute es25 tablished under subsection (b) shall submit to the 


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1 Secretary a report that describes the activities and 

2 progress of such Institute carried out under this sec3 tion during the previous year. 

4 ‘‘(2) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—On an annual 

5 basis, the Secretary shall submit to Congress a re6 port that describes the activities and progress of the 

7 Secretary and the Institute established under sub8 section (b) carried out under this section during the 

9 previous year. 

10 ‘‘(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

11 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this sec12 tion— 

13 ‘‘(1) $20,000,000 for fiscal year 2010; 

14 ‘‘(2) $25,000,000 for fiscal year 2011; and 

15 ‘‘(3) $30,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2012, 

16 2013, and 2014.’’. 

Æ 


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