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H.R. 815 Safe and Fair Enforcement and Recall for Meat, Poultry, and Food Act of 2009
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Summary
H.R 815 seeks to amend the Federal Meat Inspection Act, the Poultry Products inspection Act, and the Federal Food Drug and Cosmetics Act to establish mandatory recall authority and impose civil penalties for violations of the Act.
AVMA Position: Nonsupport
Justification:
The AVMA believes that adulteration is ill-defined within the text of H.R. 815 and may be subject to misinterpretation. Specifically, the Act does not indicate what would be considered "a reasonable probability that human consumption would present a threat to public health". The AVMA acknowledges that public health should be protected against adulterated and misbranded products, yet is concerned that such language could be interpreted to include food-borne pathogens at a zero risk, minimum tolerance level, which is currently an unrealistic and unattainable requirement.
The AVMA also believes current voluntary recall is effective and that the implementation of mandatory recall authority by H.R. 815 may not provide any additional food safety benefit. If voluntary recall is ineffective, USDA currently has the authority to deny inspections as an additional food protection mechanism. Furthermore, the implementation of a mandatory recall may consume resources that could be allocated to tasks that have a greater potential for improving food protection.
AVMA Contact: Dr. Ashley Shelton, Assistant Director, AVMA Governmental Relations at 202-289-3210 or ashelton@avma.org.
AS 07/22/09
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= AVMA/SAVMA Members Only
