Title: Food Allergy Safety, Treatment, Education, and Research Act of 2020
Policy area: Health

Summary:
Food Allergy Safety, Treatment, Education, and Research Act of 2019 or the FASTER Act of 2019
This bill directs the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to expand data collection of information related to food allergies and specific allergens and revises the definition of major allergen to specifically include sesame. The Department of Health and Human Services may designate additional food ingredients as major allergens based on the prevalence and severity of allergic reactions through regulation.
The Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health must report on specified information regarding food allergies.


[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2117 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2117

    To improve the health and safety of Americans living with food 
allergies and related disorders, including potentially life-threatening 
     anaphylaxis, food protein-induced enterocolitis syndrome, and 
    eosinophilic gastrointestinal diseases, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 8, 2019

  Ms. Matsui introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To improve the health and safety of Americans living with food 
allergies and related disorders, including potentially life-threatening 
     anaphylaxis, food protein-induced enterocolitis syndrome, and 
    eosinophilic gastrointestinal diseases, and for other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Food Allergy Safety, Treatment, 
Education, and Research Act of 2019'' or the ``FASTER Act of 2019''.

SEC. 2. FOOD ALLERGY SAFETY RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF 
              MEDICINE.

    (a) Collection of Food Allergy Data.--The Public Health Service Act 
is amended by inserting after section 317T of such Act (42 U.S.C. 247b-
22) the following new section:

``SEC. 317U. COLLECTION OF FOOD ALLERGY DATA.

    ``The Secretary, acting through the Director of the Centers for 
Disease Control and Prevention, shall--
            ``(1) expand and intensify the collection of information on 
        the prevalence of food allergies for specific allergens in the 
        United States, such as through the National Health and 
        Nutrition Examination Survey; and
            ``(2) include such information within annual or other 
        periodic reporting to the Congress and the public on other 
        surveillance activities.''.
    (b) Allergen Labeling.--
            (1) Major allergen definition.--Section 201(qq)(1) of the 
        Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 3211(qq)(1)) is 
        amended by striking ``and soybeans'' and inserting ``soybeans, 
        and sesame''.
            (2) Additional allergens.--Section 201(qq) of the Federal 
        Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 3211(qq)(1)) is amended 
        by adding at the end the following:
            ``(3) Any other food ingredient that the Secretary 
        determines by regulation to be a major food allergen, based on 
        the prevalence and severity of allergic reactions to the food 
        ingredient.''.

SEC. 3. REPORT ON USE BY FDA OF PATIENT EXPERIENCE DATA ON TREATMENTS 
              FOR PATIENTS WITH FOOD ALLERGIES.

    Section 3004 of the 21st Century Cures Act (21 U.S.C. 355 note) is 
amended--
            (1) by striking ``Not later than'' and inserting the 
        following:
    ``(a) In General.--Not later than''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(b) Treatments for Patients With Food Allergies.--Each report 
under subsection (a) shall include a synopsis of the use by the Food 
and Drug Administration in regulatory decisionmaking of patient 
experience data on treatments for patients with food allergies.''.

SEC. 4. STUDY ON ECONOMIC COSTS OF FOOD ALLERGIES.

    The Director of the National Institutes of Health shall seek to 
enter into an arrangement with the National Academies of Sciences, 
Engineering, and Medicine (or if the National Academies decline to 
enter into an arrangement, another appropriate entity) to--
            (1) study the economic costs of food allergies in the 
        United States, both individually and for the food allergy 
        population overall; and
            (2) not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of 
        this Act--
                    (A) complete such study;
                    (B) submit to the Congress a report on the results 
                of such study; and
                    (C) publish such report.
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