Safe Food Act of 2004

Bill: 108-s-2910
Sponsor: Sen. Durbin, Richard J. [D-IL]
Introduced: 2004-10-07 in the Senate
Policy area: Agriculture and Food
Subjects: Administrative procedure
Administrative remedies
Advice and consent of the Senate
Agricultural extension work
Agricultural research
Agriculture in foreign trade
Alternative dispute resolution
Animals
Armed Forces and National Security
Auditing
Biological warfare
Bribery
Business records
Citizen lawsuits
Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues
Civil actions and liability
Commerce
Congress
Congressional reporting requirements
Consumer complaints
Consumer education
Crime and Law Enforcement
Criminal liability
DNA
Damages
Data banks
Defective products
Department of Agriculture
Department of Commerce
Department of Health and Human Services
Discrimination in employment
Employee training
Environmental Protection
Environmental Protection Agency
Epidemiology
Executive reorganization
Federal-local relations
Federal-state relations
Feeds
Fines (Penalties)
Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
Food industry
Food safety
Food supply
Foodborne diseases
Foreign Trade and International Finance
Fraud
Gifts
Government Operations and Politics
Government paperwork
Government publicity
Governmental investigations
Grocery trade
Health
Health education
Health surveys
Import restrictions
Imports
Injunctions
International Affairs
Labeling
Labor and Employment
Laboratories
Law
Legal fees
Licenses
Meat inspection
Medical statistics
Nutrition
Pesticide residues
Plants
Poultry
Presidential appointments
Preventive medicine
Retail trade
Science, Technology, Communications
Seafood
Searches and seizures
Standards
State employees
Storage
Terrorism
Veterinary medicine
Whistle blowing

Summary:
action_date: 2004-10-07
text: 
Safe Food Act of 2004 - Establishes the Food Safety Administration to administer and enforce food safety laws. Directs the Administrator of the Food Safety Administration to: (1) promulgate regulations to ensure the security of the food supply from all forms of contamination; (2) implement Federal food safety inspection, enforcement, and research efforts to protect the public health; (3) develop consistent and science-based standards for safe food; (4) coordinate and prioritize food safety research and education programs with other Federal agencies; (5) prioritize Federal food safety efforts and deployment of resources to achieve the greatest possible benefit in reducing food-borne illness; (6) coordinate the Federal response to food-borne illness outbreaks with other Federal and State agencies; and (7) integrate Federal food safety activities with State and local agencies.
 
Transfers to the Administration all functions of specified Federal agencies that relate to the administration or enforcement of food safety laws, including (1) the Food Safety and Inspection Service of the Department of Agriculture; and (2) the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition and the Center for Veterinary Medicine of the Food and Drug Administration.
 
Requires the Administrator to: (1) administer a national food safety program based on an analysis of the hazards associated with different food and the processing of different food; (2) establish standards for processors of food and food establishments; (3) establish a certification system for foreign governments or food establishments seeking to import food to the United States; (4) establish requirements for tracing food and food producing animals from point of origin to retail sale; (5) maintain an active surveillance system of food, food products, and epidemiological evidence; (6) establish a sampling system to monitor contaminants in food; (7) rank and analyze hazards in the food supply; (8) establish a national public education campaign on food safety; and (9) conduct research relating to food safety.
 
Sets forth provisions regarding prohibited acts, administrative detention, condemnation, temporary holds, recall, penalties for violations of food safety laws, whistle blower protection, and civil actions.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2004-10-07
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
action_date: 2004-10-07
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S10704-10705)
action_date: 2004-10-07
text: Introduced in Senate