The combined efforts of the food industry and the regulatory agencies often are credited with making the U.S. food supply among the safest in the world. Nonetheless, public health officials have estimated that each year in the United States, 76 million people become sick, 325,000 are hospitalized, and 5,000 die from foodborne illnesses caused by contamination from any one of a number of microbial pathogens. Food safety-related incidents frequently heighten public and media scrutiny of the U.S. food safety system in general, as a number of developments in 2006 and 2007 have illustrated. For example, more than 200 confirmed illnesses and three deaths were linked in the autumn of 2006 to the consumption of bagged fresh spinach grown in California and carrying the bacterium E. coli O157:H7. The incident raised public concerns about the safety of all fresh leafy produce and stimulated a number of industry and government initiatives to limit future contamination. Large recalls of various meat and poultry products due to findings of E. coli O157:H7, Listeria , and other problems occurred throughout 2007. In February of that year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced a nationwide recall of Peter Pan and Great Value brands peanut butter produced in a Georgia ConAgra plant due to Salmonella contamination, after hundreds of illnesses, dating back to August 2006 and linked to the bacterium, were reported by public health officials. At issue is whether the current food safety system has the resources, authority, and structural organization to safeguard the health of American consumers, who spend more than $1 trillion on food each year. Also at issue is whether federal food safety laws, first enacted in the early 1900s, have kept pace with the significant changes that have occurred in the food production, processing, and marketing sectors since then. Attention shifted to the safety of food imports in early 2007 when pet food ingredients imported from China sickened or killed an unknown number of dogs and cats and subsequently were found in some hog, chicken, and fish feed. In June 2007, FDA announced that it was detaining all imports of certain types of farm-raised seafood from China (specifically, shrimp, catfish, basa, dace, and eel) until the shippers could confirm that they are free of unapproved drug residues. These and other developments made food safety a top issue for a number of lawmakers in the first session of the 110 th Congress. Several of them called for changes in the U.S. food safety system and/or funding increases that they assert are needed to meet current obligations to protect consumers from unsafe food. Perceived gaps in federal safeguards were explored at a number of congressional hearings in 2007. Several reports and studies released in 2007 by the Bush Administration also called for changes or increased resources in the system. Bills addressing various aspects of the issue have been introduced. Many appear to focus on ensuring the safety of imported foods, and/or on strengthening the ability of federal agencies to identify and recall contaminated products. Several call for a more sweeping overhaul of existing statutes, including one that would combine responsibility for all food safety under a single new agency. This report describes many of these bills, both in tabular format (see Appendix A and Appendix B ) and in the text that follows. First, however, the report offers an overview of the current system. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has identified 15 federal agencies collectively administering at least 30 laws related to food safety. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), which is part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), together compose the majority of both the total funding and the total staffing of the government's food regulatory system. FSIS's annual budget is approximately $1 billion, at least 90% of it appropriated funds and the balance industry-paid user fees. FDA's annual budget for human foods is less than $500 million. FDA oversight of animal drugs and feeds totals another approximately $100 million, of which approximately 90% is appropriated and the balance user fees. FDA is responsible for ensuring that all domestic and imported food products—except for most meat and poultry derived from the major animal species—are safe, nutritious, wholesome, and accurately labeled. FDA shares responsibility for the safety of eggs with FSIS. FDA has jurisdiction over establishments that sell or serve eggs or use them as an ingredient in their products (FSIS generally is responsible for processed eggs). FDA is also responsible for ensuring that seafood products, including those from aquaculture, do not endanger public health. The primary statutes governing FDA's activities are the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA), as amended (21 U.S.C. 301 et seq. ); the Public Health Service Act, as amended (42 U.S.C. 201 et seq. ); and the Egg Products Inspection Act, as amended (21 U.S.C. 1031 et seq.). FDA's food safety staff (FY2007) numbers approximately 1,900 in field offices throughout the United States, plus more than 800 in its headquarters offices near Washington, DC. FDA regulates food manufacturers' safety practices by relying on companies' self-interest in producing safe products, by working with the industry to improve production practices, and by making periodic (although infrequent) inspections of the approximately 60,700 active food establishments subject to FDA oversight. According to FDA, unannounced compliance inspections of individual establishments by its officials now occur roughly once every five years. FDA relies on notifications from within the industry or from other federal or state inspection personnel, as well as other sources, to alert it to situations calling for increased inspection. The FDA headquarters offices are the focal point for food safety-related activities. The Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN) is responsible for (1) conducting and supporting food safety research; (2) developing and overseeing enforcement of food safety and quality regulations; (3) coordinating and evaluating FDA's food surveillance and compliance programs; (4) coordinating and evaluating cooperating states' food safety activities; and (5) developing and disseminating food safety and regulatory information to consumers and industry. FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) is responsible for ensuring that all animal drugs, feeds (including pet foods), and veterinary devices are safe for animals, are properly labeled, and produce no human health hazards when used in food-producing animals. FDA also cooperates with over 400 state agencies across the nation that carry out a wide range of food safety regulatory activities. The state agencies are primarily responsible for actual inspection. FDA works with the states to set the safety standards for food establishments and commodities and evaluates the states' performance in upholding such standards as well as any federal standards that may apply. FDA also contracts with states to use their food safety agency personnel to carry out certain field inspections in support of FDA's own statutory responsibilities. FSIS regulates the safety, wholesomeness, and proper labeling of most domestic and imported meat and poultry and their products sold for human consumption. Under the Federal Meat Inspection Act (FMIA) of 1906, as amended (21 U.S.C. 601 et seq. ), FSIS inspects all cattle, sheep, swine, goats, and equines both before and after they are slaughtered, and maintains oversight during their processing into food products. Under the Poultry Products Inspection Act (PPIA) of 1957, as amended (21 U.S.C. 451 et seq. ), FSIS is required to inspect "any domesticated bird" both before and after slaughter and while being processed for human consumption. However, USDA regulations implementing this law limit the definition of domesticated birds to chickens, turkeys, ducks, geese, ratites (emus, ostriches, and rheas), and guineas. FDA has jurisdiction over exotic and alternative meats not inspected by FSIS, and shares responsibility for egg safety with FSIS. FSIS is responsible for the safety of liquid, frozen, and dried egg products, domestic and imported, and for the safe use or disposition of damaged and dirty eggs under the Egg Products Inspection Act, as amended (21 U.S.C. 1031 et seq.). FSIS staff numbers around 9,400; roughly 8,000 of them, including about 1,000 veterinarians, are in about 6,300 meat and poultry slaughtering and/or processing plants nationwide. FSIS personnel inspect all meat and poultry animals at slaughter on a continuous basis, and at least one federal inspector is on the line during all hours the slaughter plant is operating. During processing operations—that is, when meat from animals is being transformed into cuts, ground products, and other consumable items—an FSIS inspector may not be constantly on the production line or inspect every item. Instead, the inspector visits the site on a daily basis to monitor the plant's adherence to the standards for sanitary conditions, ingredient levels, and packaging, and to conduct statistical sampling and testing of products. Because all plants are visited daily, processing inspection also is considered to be continuous. FSIS also is responsible for certifying that foreign meat and poultry plants are operating under an inspection system equivalent to the U.S. system before they can export their products to the United States. FSIS inspectors located at U.S. ports of entry carry out a statistically based sampling program to verify the safety of imported meats from cattle, sheep, swine, goats, and equines and imported poultry meat from chickens, turkeys, ducks, geese, quail, ratites, and guineas before they are released into domestic commerce. FDA is responsible for ensuring the safety of imported meat from any other species.