As the law stands today, USDA cannot fine a company for lax safety standards. Yet if you produce unsafe foodthe only one of these actions that puts people's lives at riskUSDA cannot impose any financial penalty. This legislation grants USDA the authority to fine companies that violate food safety laws. It is time to treat food safety as seriously as we do any other threat to human health. Right now, when a car kills due to faulty manufacturing, a plane engine fails revealing critical safety gaps, or a toy harms the children it was meant to pleasethe federal government can act quickly to remove them from the marketplace.
Food safety is just as important.
That's why this legislation requires prompt government notification when contaminated meat or poultry may have entered the market, and it allows for mandatory recalls when voluntary means fail to remove all potentially unsafe product from the market. Again, I thank Congressman Baldacci and his 15 co-sponsors for their leadership on this vital issue. I look forward to working with them on what I hope will be a successful attempt to turn this bill into law. The companion Senate bill, S. 1264, was introduced by Senator Harkin on October 7, 1997. Its other sponsors are Senators Daschle, Leahy, Johnson, Durbin, Murray, Moseley-Braun, Boxer, Mikulski, Torricelli, Dodd, and Kennedy.